


One of a Kind

by insaneshadowfangirl, LucyRed



Series: Just Our Fallen Hell [4]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Dehumanization, Sort of? - Freeform, Swapfell Sans, Underfell, alternate universe Sans, basically Swapfell Sans gets sent to Underfell by his asshole brother and now he's Chara's, he's not strong, lots of undeserving torture, pet treatment, this is basically a crack fic ngl, we call him Raspberry
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-26
Updated: 2017-01-06
Packaged: 2018-09-12 10:26:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 40,976
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9067663
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/insaneshadowfangirl/pseuds/insaneshadowfangirl, https://archiveofourown.org/users/LucyRed/pseuds/LucyRed
Summary: Nothing can replace their Shattered pet.NOTHING.Anything that tries is just asking for pain.





	1. Replacement

**Author's Note:**

> Ahem  
> One may consider this a sequel in the way that some may consider Home Alone 3 a sequel to 1 and 2. In other words, many would probably prefer to leave it at 1 and 2 and say everything ended there.  
> So y'know  
> Read this with a grain of salt
> 
> About Swapfell Sans  
> This is Lucy's version of Swapfell Sans - Papyrus is the asshole, and Sans is the whimpery 'mutt' brother that is 'lucky' to be 'taken care of' by the stronger brother  
> Parallel's with Lucy's version of Underfell (not this one) where Sans is the main asshole and Papyrus tries to just stay out of his way but is at least strong enough to do his own thing
> 
> tl;dr  
> this SF Sans is a pussy, treat this like a spinoff more than a sequel
> 
> -LR

 

 

Charity is depressed. There’s no other way to describe Asgore’s adopted child. They drag their feet, they do not pay attention to lessons… He had found them crying in their bedroom just the night before. He’d tried to take the husk of their pet from them, reasoning that without the reminder of their accidental Shattering they may move on, but the child had thrown a massive temper tantrum that resulted in three dead servants and the west wing study needing a new wall.

So he decided to put out a reward for anyone that could bring in something similar. Surely they’d move on if they had a new toy to play with?

 

This Snowdin seems a lot colder than the one he belongs to...maybe it's seeing the nice warm house that looks just like his and knowing that he'll be dusted the moment he tries to enter…

Why had Papy put him in that machine? He'd seemed a little drunk at the time...maybe he hadn't meant it…

Sans doesn't know much about...well, anything. But he knows this isn't his Snowdin...he'd seen the Papyrus that went into that familiar house and it wasn't Papy. Where Muffet’s bar should have been was a Grillby’s, all the dogs were sentries, and the royal scientist was dead and Queen Toriel was missing and instead King Asgore was ruling…?

It's like someone just swapped everyone's faces around and put them in the wrong buildings and clothes. It's so confusing.

Sans has never felt a deeper sense of ‘not belonging’.

 

He curls up tighter against the wall of the ‘Grillby’s’ restaurant, trying to steal some of the heat radiating off the walls. He's already gone through the garbage cans looking for food and has found nothing. Tonight seems to be especially cold...he can't seem to open his eyes...they're frozen shut…

It would have been smarter, probably, to have gone to Waterfall. But Sans didn't want to face whatever strange, swapped up world Waterfall had. Snowdin was hard enough to get used to.

Anyway it's too late for that now...he supposes he's just going to freeze and die here, without anyone to care.

Sans cries quietly into the wind as he waits to die. He knows he deserves it but he's not ready...not at all…

“What the fuck was that?” A rough female voice comes from the main road.

Oh no..

Sans knows that no one here has any mercy but...he's already going to die...maybe...just _maybe_ …this person might be kind...

“H...h-h-he-elp…” He chokes out as loud as he can, turning his head in the direction of the voice although he can't see.

The woman that approaches from the alley entry is a cat woman, bundled in a ridiculous amount of warm clothes, yellow fur sticking out of her mittens. She hates winter, really she does. “What is this?” Tiffany wonders aloud, staring at the tiny skeleton huddled against the wall. There’s something familiar about him…

“P...p-pl-l-le-ea-ase..h-h-he-elp…” Sans whimpers, “P-ple-ease…”

Actually… He looks a _lot_ like the Prinx’s poor shattered pet. A _lot_.

Sans tries again to pry open his frozen eyes to no success. Did the person leave? “P-ple-ease...j-jus-st s-some f-food, p-pl-lease..!”

Well, the only reason she was still alive was because of stupid decisions like this. Tiffany bends down and pulls him into her arms. She’s braced for him to fight or struggle. He actually curls tighter around her, murmuring something delirious about her being so warm. Good, that’ll make this easier. She doubts he’ll be too happy once he realizes what he’s in for, of course, but that doesn’t matter. A hefty bonus is coming her way, just in time for Gyftmas.

 

At best Asgore was expecting a bunny to be brought in. But another skeleton? One that looked almost _exactly_ like his adopted child’s broken toy?

The fact that it was frozen nearly to death was just a bonus - Chara would probably feel an obligation to care for it, that way. Almost ( _almost)_ eagerly, Asgore had the Prinx sent for. He’s ready for their fit to be over.

The new pet is set down on the tile in front of the throne, left shivering and whimpering in its cold.

 

Chara stomps into the spare study, staring at their feet. They don’t want to talk to their Daddy. They don’t want to do anything but sit on their bed and stare at the wall. They were thinking about reading to Sansy, he might like that.

They nearly trip over the huddled figure on the ground on their way in. Their first instinct is to lash out, but just before their foot connects they stop short. It… it’s Sans?

The tiny skeleton seems to sense their proximity, “H...h-h-hel-l-lo…?” What happened to that warm person? Where has he been brought to?

It’s not Sans. But it looks like him. They walk around the strange skeleton, a predator circling their prey. In thousands of resets, they’ve never seen him. Not once.

Asgore observes the child's behavior from his seat, finding it promising. “Will this do for now, child?” He asks, voice low.

Chara can’t think straight. They need a moment. They think about reloading, but they haven’t done it since Sans--

Well, they don’t know if they can, anymore. So they do the next best thing. “I-I think, yes-- Thank you Daddy.”

Asgore gives a pleased smile, “Good. Now take it. I expect you to be more attentive at your next lesson. Understood?”

“Yes, Daddy.” Chara responds quickly, lifting the unknown skeleton into their arms. He weighs less than they expect.

Sans gives a quiet gasp and huddles against the new source of heat. Oh so warm...so nice….

Chara rushes down the hallway back to their bedroom. What the actual fuck is going on? Faced with a new problem to solve, they force themself to ignore their apathy for anything that isn’t Sans or Frisk, if only for a moment.

If they're going to get any answers, though, they have to make sure this...whomever it is...survives the night. They take it into the bathroom and turn on the hot water for the bath, setting it down on the ground. It whines as they do so.

“Oh relax…” They grumble, watching it fill up. They push away the memories of Sans fighting tooth and nail against his first bath, as well as the more recent ones of him eagerly settling into the warm water, purring happily.

“Wh….wh-who…?” It rasps.

“Me.” Chara snaps. The tub’s almost full.

It flinches at their tone, shivering getting worse as fear sets in, “I-I-I’m s-sorry..”

Whatever this monster is, and wherever it came from, it’s not Sans. Sans doesn't apologize.

“...wh...I’m s-sorry c-c...c-can y-you p-please t-tell me wh-what th-that n-noise i-is…”

“Bathtub.” They grunt, turning off the water.

“...b-bath..?”

“Yes. So you don’t die before I can figure who the fuck you are.”

Oh he's made them mad...somehow he's already made them mad.

“M-my n-name i-is S-Sans…”

“Bullshit.” They snap. This is not _Sans_. He's suddenly picked up and dumped into the water.

Sans (not Sans?) yelps as he sinks, his soaked, mitten-covered hands scrambling to grab hold of the edges of the tub. Once he's secure that he's not going to drown, his shaking dies away and he gives a soft groan at the warmth of the water.

He splashes water on his face. The frost holding his eyes shut melts away and he blinks rapidly, looking at the face of his questionable rescuer.

Those wide eyelights staring at them definitely are _not_ Sans’s.

And yet… they are. This isn’t Sans. Not _their_ Sans. But it’s certainly _a_ Sans.

“...wh...what k-kind of monster are you…?” It asks, face squinting up in an expression of befuddlement.

“I’m not.” They snap. “I’m a human.”

There's a moment of pause and then a shriek and a splash and the Not Sans is escaped from the tub, rushing past them and diving under their bed.

Seriously? They haven’t even mentioned the homicidal tendencies yet.

Chara hops to their feet and darts into their room, looking around. If that… thing… opened the closet door--

A tell-tale whimpering followed by frantic, damp shuffling assures them that their new pet is only under the bed.

Based on his earlier fear… he should respond if they… “ **_Get out here._ ** ”

“ _Please human I don't want to die!”_

“I’m not going to kill you!” They snap. “Unless you keep pissing me off!”

“I...I d-don’t w-want to come o-out…” The voice under the bed whimpers, “I-I’ll just s-stay here until y-you’re not m-mad…”

“I’m going to beat the ever-loving shit out of you if you don’t come out **_this instant_ ** **.** ” Chara snaps, forgetting for a brief moment that it isn’t actually Sans they are talking to.

Immediately they hear sobbing, “B-but y-y-you’re g-going to k-kill me!”

“ **_Honestly_ **. Are you really that stupid?”

“H-humans k-kill m-monsters!”

“And monsters kill humans. Yadda yadda circle of life, blah blah, blah.”

“...b..b-but you g-gave me a...a bath…oh stars w-was the water poisoned?!”

“Holy _fuck_ you’re paranoid. You’re worse than my old pet!”

“P…..p-pet?”

“Yeah. ‘Pearently Daddy Asgore got you to replace my other pet after--” They shake their head. “‘S’not important.”

“...I...I'm n-not a pet, th-though..”

“You’re _Sans_ , though. According to you. And Sans is _my pet_.”

“B-but I'm n-not…”

Chara rolls their eyes. Yes, _that_ is obvious.

There’s a knock on the door, and Tiffany offers their lunch. Chara takes it from her and kicks the door shut. It’s soup, and she’s included a dog dish full for not-sans along with a smaller bowl for Sans. There's some crackers, too.

There’s a long pause. And then. “Is...i-is that f-food…?”

“Yeah.” Chara drops the dog dish on the floor, careful not to spill it, and heads over to the closet.

There's shuffling, and then the skeleton under the bed pokes his head out over the dish, crawling forward and picking the bowl up. He should ask permission before taking this, he knows, but he's so _hungry_ …

The human’s not paying attention to him anyway, they’re sitting in front of their closet door, muttering. “C’mon, sweetie, I know you don’t want it, come on. Just a little….”

What are they doing…?

Curiosity fueled by exhaustion-induced delirium prods the small skeleton to get up and cautiously walk over to the child, peering over their shoulder. His eyes widen.

It's another skeleton. Not just that, but one that looks almost _exactly_ like him! He's wrapped up tightly in a blanket resting on a thick pillow. The human is unsuccessfully trying to coax him into eating from the spoon they’re holding. But he seems _off_...

He squints, and then gives a horrified squeal and stumbles back. He’s Shattered…

The human’s head snaps around and they nearly spill Sans’s soup. Without hesitation the new pet dives back under the bed.

Fuck. This is going to be difficult.

But they have more important things they need to be worrying about. Sans still isn't eating. They know they could just order the skeleton to obey and he would (even if they weren't really his Breaker, in the end), but they didn't _want_ to do that. They wanted to get him to eat on his own… to take _good_ care of him, not just feed and water him once a day and leave him alone otherwise. “Come on, Sansy, doesn't it smell good? Don't you want some? You ate it yesterday…” they croon softly. “Or would you rather some crackers? There’s some of those, too. I can have them bring up some mustard to put on them if you want…”

He says nothing. Just stares blankly at them. Even the smell of food has no effect. Dammit.

With a little sigh, they hold out the spoon, full of soup, offering it to his teeth. “Eat your lunch, sweetie.”

Sans’s mouth opens and he eats as Chara feeds him. This is a step back from yesterday, but they suppose they can't all be good days…

They try not to think about how it's only going to get worse. Once Sans’s bowl is empty, they offer him a package of crackers. “I want you to eat these if you feel hungry, understand? Like how I want you to knock on the door if you feel cold.” They tear it open so he can actually get at the food with his damaged hands.

“i understand.” His voice is nearly monotone.

Chara nods, rubbing the top of his skull. There’s not likely to be a response, but…

...but nothing.

There's no reaction. He doesn't even close his eyes.

Chara tucks his blanket more securely around him, thinking about how happy he was when he first learned about the warming charms on it.

Fuck, they were becoming so fucking sentimental.

With another sigh, they stand and shut the closet door, turning to the bed. They would probably have to drag their new pet out from under there, kicking and screaming…

..oh. He's out. On his knees a safe retreating distance to the bed, should the human turn aggressive again.

“....is...is h-he okay…?”

“As okay as a Shattered monster can be, I suppose.” Chara says, heading to their bed.

“What...what happened…?”

“... That's none of your concern.” The human hisses.

“W...w-was it y-you, h-human…?”

“ _I was not the one to Shatter him._ ” Not a lie. His SOUL had been in Frisk’s hands.

Not Sans gulps and scoots closer to the bed, “I...I-I’m s-sorry human I sh...I sh-shouldn’t have asked…”

“Well, I suppose I'm stuck with you, aren't I…” Chara mutters under their breath.

“..I...I can l-leave…” He sniffs, “I...I-I know I'm a..a b-burden..”

They roll their eyes. “Now why would I let you just run off? What kind of owner would I be if I just let you out into the cold?”

“O..o-owner…?”

“You’re pretty stupid.” Chara observes.

“Yes.” The copy agrees readily. “It...i-it’s annoying, I-I know, I'm sorry, h-human..”

“Master. You will call me Master. And you will do as you are told, or I will punish you.”

“...I…” Not Sans looks down at his weak, starved, and exhausted body. What room does he have to protest? They fed him. Saved his life. If he somehow manages to leave, what is there to go back to? This place is his only chance for survival…

Swallowing, he lowers his eyes and head, “...o-okay…..M...M-Master…”

“Good.” Chara grumbles. They don't really _want_ him to be their puppy…

“...oh, I-I...I-I’m getting...water all o-over your floor…” He gets to his feet, holding out his dripping arms and hurrying to the bathroom.

… At least he is already terrified.

Taking off his mittens, Not Sans starts wringing them out over the sink, followed by his jacket and t-shirt.

“You won't be needing those anymore, Runt. Leave them in the sink and come out here.”

Wincing at that far too familiar nickname, the skeleton leaves his upper body clothes in the sink and returns to the main bedroom, absently holding one hand over his ribs where his SOUL is.

Chara tosses an object at him. “Put that on.”

He unfolds the item, eyelights shrinking as he visibly pales at the sight of the collar, freezing up.

“ **_Now_ **.”

“I...I-I c-can’t…”

Chara stands, stalking over to him. Worst case scenario is him killing him and they can just reset. “We’re going to get one thing clear right now. **_You do not tell. Me. NO_ **!” They pull out the melty-face trick.

He screams, back smacking into the wall as he trips over himself trying to get away, “I'm sorry! I'm sorry I'm sorry! Please!”

“Put the **_fucking collar_ ** on your **_fucking throat_ ** right **_fucking now_ **.”

He falls to his knees, dropping the collar twice from his trembling hands as he struggles to obey. He's holding his breath to keep back the sobs as he finally gets it to latch, keeping his eyes shut to avoid looking at their scary human face.

“ **_Suferos_ ** _._ ” They hiss.

He screams as the collar shocks him, sobbing as his fragile body is wracked with pain. “ _I'm sorry! I'm sorry M-Master I'm sorry! Please!”_

The electrocution ends, and Chara is standing over him. “When I tell you to do something, you will **_do it_ **. NO EXCEPTIONS!”

He nods, weeping as he pushes himself off the floor and onto his knees, “I-it w-w-won’t h-h-happen ag-g-gain I'm s-so s-sorry M-Master p-please f-forgive m-me…!”

“Clean up that mess you made.” They jerk their thumb carelessly at the puddles of water on the floor, including the ones under the bed.

Runt nods, stumbling to his feet and going to the bathroom to retrieve towels with a fumbled ‘y-yes M-Master’.

Chara sneers at the retreating form. Wherever this Sans came from, they're glad he’s here. It means they have something to beat the shit out of…

He trips back into the room with the towels, getting down onto his knees and cleaning up the spots of water on the floor. At least cleaning is something he's really good at. He'll make them pleased with them. He has to.

Chara ignores the tiny little skeleton-- even smaller than Sans, as if that were possible-- in favor of staring at the wall. It's more interesting.

“I...I-I c-can c-clean your wh-whole room i-if you w-want, M-Master…?”

“That's what maids are for, Runt.” Chara sneers. “If I'm gonna be the Prinx I may as well actually fucking use some of the perks.”

“Y….y-you’re the P-Prinx…?”

“I did say Asgore was my Daddy. Pay attention, you stupid little dog.”

Runt swallows tightly and scoots towards the bed, crawling under it again and soaking up more water, “I'm sorry…”

“Wow you're annoying.” It had been adorable when Sans started compulsively apologizing, but that was more because it had felt like a reward-- they'd worked long and hard to break him to that point.

“I..” The runt cuts himself off before he can annoy them again, falling silent and focusing on work. He tries to ignore the tears in the corners of his sockets. Just focus on work, try to be ignorable - just like living with Papyrus.

He reappears from under the bed, silently getting to his feet and going to put the wet towel in the sink with his clothes.

 

When he leaves the bathroom the human is glaring at him. “Sit.” They point at a spot on the floor in front of them.

He scrambles to obey, parking himself on his seat and hugging his legs to his chest.

“ **_Wrong_ ** . **_Suferos_ **.”

Runt screams again as agonizing pain crawls through his bones, burning him alive. He pants and whimpers as the electricity stops. “Wh...wh-what d-did I d-do w-w-wrong…?” He asks weakly.

“You're my dog now.” Chara snaps, already tired of having to explain things. They were so much more patient before… “Act like it, or I’ll cut off your fucking hands.”

Runt’s breath hitches in panic at that threat, “I...M-Master p-please I d-don’t unders-stand-!”

“You've never seen a fellow mutt sit, bitch?”

Runt puts a hand over his mouth to muffle his sob, shifting his position so his legs are bent up on either side of him, bracing his free hand on the ground between his legs.

Chara nods slightly, pointing to another spot. “Sit, Runt.”

He obeys, dragging himself over and assuming the same position.

“So you're not _quite_ as stupid as you look.”

Runt sniffs, wiping at his eyes and keeping his head down. This isn't anything _new_...Papyrus treated him like this. The dog act is new but honestly it's a small price for food and shelter in this place…

No...the aggressive treatment doesn't bother him nearly as much as the fact that he keeps _messing it up_ every step of the way...is he doing _anything_ right?

 

Chara seems to be bored already. They can't believe that the luster, as little there was, is already wearing off.

“I'm s-sorry...I'm s-sorry I w-want to b-be good…” Runt whimpers, trying not to fall over where he is as he waits for Chara’s next command, “I'm sorry…”

These past hours have consisted of Chara doing nothing but ordering him here and there, only pausing to spit derisive comments at him and punish him via the collar for not being quick enough, or for not saying the right thing…

Runt feels like he's going to lose his mind if he can't get something right with the next order his Master gives him. He _has_ to do just _one_ thing correctly. _Anything_.

But it's like they expect him to _already know_ what they want. He can't read minds!

In spite of his exhaustive efforts, Runt starts crying again, keeping his head down and holding a hand over his mouth to muffle the sound.

 _Beep_.

His eyes go wide but the scream catches in his throat as the electricity courses through him, burning his bones and throwing his body to the ground again as the pain seems to reach new levels of horrible.

 _Why can't he make them happy with him_?!

 

 _This isn't fun_ ! Chara screams internally. _This isn't_ **_satisfying_ **!

 

_Why can’t I do anything right…_

Oh he’s blacking out...he’s blacking out he’s blacking out he doesn’t have _permission to lose consciousness_ “H-help! M-Master h-help…!” He wheezes as the currents die down, gasping and scratching at his arms, using the pain to keep his eyes open.

Chara rolls their eyes. “What?”

“I’m g-gonna p-pass out I’m g-gonna p-pass out it h-hurts too b-bad-”

Chara sneers. “And here I thought they didn't come any more fragile than _Sansy_.”

Runt hiccups, “M-MERCY...M-MERCY, h-human, p-please..”

“ **_I don't have any MERCY_ **!” Chara snatches a book off their nightstand- the first Harry Potter, bookmarked at the start of chapter three-- and throws it at him.

He doesn’t dodge - just shuts his eyes and lets the light cover book smack him in the face.

Chara huffs and rolls over.

“P..p-please m-may I s-sleep M-Master…?”

“Yeah, whatever.” The human mumbles. “There’s a rug in the corner.”

Runt drags himself over to it and lays down, trembling from the aftershocks of his electrocution, “Th-thank you..”

He won't be thanking them soon.

 

After what felt like only minutes of closing his eyes Runt wakes up to the sound of beeping around his neck. He screams as the electrocution begins all over again. He swears it's getting worse. What did he do wrong?! He'd asked for permission to sleep...had he been talking in his sleep? Snoring? _What had it been_?

After the screaming and electrocution stops, Runt takes a minute to catch his breath before whimpering another apology. There’s no response. He looks over to see Chara, sound asleep, not even woken by his screams.

Then...then why did…

Runt slowly lays back down, wide eyelights quivering in fear. When is it going to happen again? Can he stop it? Can Master stop it?

Can't he just...not be in pain...just for a bit…?

He watches the sleeping form on the large bed. He doesn't sleep. He has to stay awake to be prepared for more pain.

He was lucky this time, but he doesn't want to risk waking them with his screaming.

 

Morning comes and with it comes a waking human, who takes one look at the clock and curses. They're late. They leap out of bed and rush through their morning preparation.

Runt stays as pressed back against the wall as possible as the human runs back and forth across the room, biting his fingers and just hoping to stay unnoticed.

Chara doesn't even spare him a glance. They've practically forgotten him.

Just before leaving, they peek in the closet. The crackers are opened a bit wider but otherwise undisturbed. Sans's eyes are shut. At… at least he touched them? That's more than they've managed to get him to do when they aren't present… Though they are confused as to why he only opened them a bit more.

...right. He doesn't...doesn't really have hands...he probably tried because he was vaguely ordered to and gave up quickly. They must not have gotten them out enough. Chara shucks the cellophane off the package and rubs his head affectionately.

There's a knocking at the door, “Prinx Charity. You're late for your lessons.”

Chara yelps and dashes for the door in an almost comical fashion, forgetting to shut the closet in their rush to assure Asgore they're taking this seriously.

 

Why are it's eyelights so big...seems wrong. Too innocent.

..who cares, though.

“...h..h-hello…?”

Oh. Now it's talking to him. He says nothing.

“...can y-you hear me…?”

He still says nothing. Why bother.

“Are...I'm sorry, are...are you..hungry…?”

His body _has_ been pawing uselessly at the pile of crackers next to him for some time now, operating almost like a separate, robotic entity. He doesn't care if he's hungry. But Chara had told him to eat if he was. So he's trying. That's all he'll do though. He's not going to go above and beyond.

“Uhm..”

The absurdly small skeleton picks up one of the crackers (lucky bastard still has fingers) and holds it to Sans’s teeth. He brightens up just slightly as the Shattered mouth opens and accepts the food.

“Good! You should...i-it’s good that y-you’re eating...i-it’ll help...m-maybe…”

This idiot doesn't seem to understand that there's nothing to ‘help’ when it comes to a Shattered SOUL.

“More?” Another cracker is held up. Sans eats it wordlessly. The hesitant smile on the Runt’s face seems to grow a bit.

After a few minutes they're all gone and Runt sits back, “Good...uhm...I'll..I'll close this, now…….is that okay?”

No answer.

“...okay...sleep...sleep good…” Those wide eyelights watch him in concern until the closet door closes and separates the two again.

Sans closes his eyes and goes back to sleep.


	2. Not Even Good Enough to be a Dog

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Touching Fractures can be a very enlightening process.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Touching a Fracture gives the person and the person touching it a flashback to the moment of the Break -LR  
> Ye two chapters in one day uhhh Merry Christmas ig

Chara heads back into their room, exhausted. They want… they really only want to lie down and snuggle with Sans, but that’s not an option anymor- the human yelps as they trip over the forgotten small not-Sans.

Runt gasps and scrambles to help them back to their feet, “I-I-I’m so s-sorry M-Master-!”

Chara glares at him for a moment before making a split-second decision and hefting him over their shoulder. They plonk him down on the bed and climb in beside him, shifting the trembling form until he's laying in their lap.

He doesn't squirm or fight to get away from them. Just huddles in on himself, staring up at them with those wide eyes full of fear, wondering what's going to happen to him. Chara pets him.

Those impossibly wide eyes grow wider. For the first few strokes he's frozen, but then he hesitantly leans his head further into the hand touching him so gently. 

Chara feels… a little better. This isn't Sans, but it's just close enough they can close their eyes and pretend it is.

It's so gentle...no one has ever touched him so  _ nicely _ ...the Runt scoots up a bit closer, curling up next to their body and quickly learning how and when to move his head to match the motions of their hand, greedily taking in as much of the sensation as possible. 

He’s extremely affectionate in return for their stroking, and it  _ almost _ makes Chara smile. They wonder if they can get him to purr for them…their fingers stretch out and scratch the back of his skull.

Runt gives a hum, smiling slightly and stretching out his legs a bit, “Hmmm... _ krr _ …” Quickly he slaps a hand over his mouth, “I...I-I’m so sorry!” He blurts, looking horrified. 

Chara winces, the moment of peace broken by their new pet’s terror at doing  _ exactly  _ what they wanted. 

“It...i-it w-won’t happen ag-gain M-Master, I...p-please…” He sounds desperate, but...also ashamed. “...p-please keep p-petting me…?”

Chara shrugs, apathy reentering their expression. “Wanted to hear you purr.” They mutter, annoyed.

Runt stares up at them, sitting up, “Y...you did…?”

“Well duh.” They snap.

Runt winces. He's let them down again...Papy hates that sound. He'd beat him for making it. But this isn't Papyrus. This is his new Master.

“M...M-Master I...I-I kn-know I'm..I'm stupid but I.. I th-think I'm at least as...a-as smart as a dog…? I can learn! I can l-learn, M-Master, I-I can learn how t-to be a g-good pet...p-please...I'll purr...I'll p-purr all you want if that's what you w-want…”

“...sounded just like him…” They mutter absently, more to themself.

“...the...the monster in the...the closet…?”

“ _ My  _ Sansy.” Chara agrees wistfully, still lost in their own little world. “Miss him.”

“...I'm s-sorry…” Slowly Runt lays back down next to them, “I...I wish I could h-help…”

Chara sighs and starts petting him again. Runt closes his eyes, feeling a familiar twitching against his legs at the pleasant sensation. “Hmm…” He sighs, snuggling in closer to them, “ _ Krr _ ..”

“That's better.” They mutter.

Encouraged by the words, in spite of the dour tone, Runt pushes his head further into their hand, purring louder and smiling widely - the expression is only slightly forced.

He’s almost  _ too _ cuddly… Sans is supposed to be difficult to please like this…

There's a soft  _ beep  _ that Chara fails to notice but that grabs Runt’s attention immediately. He sits up, shoving himself away from Chara before the shocks can start. Runt doesn't know much but he knows electricity is too friendly and too eager to share itself with anyone touching.

Runt topples off the bed, hitting the floor and writhing in pain as he screams.

They'd actually forgotten about that. Huh.

“H...h-h..”

_ ‘They're not going to help…’ _

Tears prick at the corners of Runt’s eyes as the painful shocking gets worse. “P-pl..”

_ ‘They're not going to help..they don’t want to they don't  _ **_care_ ** _..why should they…’ _

But they'd been so nice..so  _ gentle _ ...why can't they always be like that?

_ ‘Because I don't deserve it…’ _

They only want a replacement for the broken skeleton in the closet. Runt feels like he's going to be broken enough soon, at this rate.

The shocks die and he gasps in air, muffling a sob. He drags himself back against the wall, wiping his hand over his eyes and drawing out his SOUL to double check it.

...no...no new Fractures...just all of the old ones…

Chara’s hand shoots out and snatches it before he can react. He gasps, sinking forward onto his hands and knees and panting as he feels the cold curiosity of their intentions on the most vulnerable part of his being. “Ah! P-please-!”

“Shush.” They bark, prodding one of the fractures.

The Runt yelps, eyelights shrinking as their touch of the break forces him into a flashback.

 

_ “Sans, you’re so pathetic.” _

_ Sans cries out as Papyrus presses his thumb into the center of Sans’s SOUL, pushing it in deeply, “S-Sir I’m s-s-sorry I s-s-slept in S-Sir p-please h-have M-MERCY-!” _

_ “MERCY doesn’t exist in this world, little bro. i’m being nice by teaching you that.” Papyrus takes the cigarette from between his teeth and presses the glowing end to the SOUL. _

_ Sans screams in pain, dropping to his knees and curling forward, sobbing as Papyrus traces out the path for a new break with his finger, “I l-love you...I l-love you, P-Papy, p-please…!” _

_ Papyrus just smirks, “i love you too, you fucking stupid runt…” He pulls at the edges of Sans’s SOUL. _

**_CRACK_ **

 

The Runt chokes as the memory ends and Chara’s finger withdraws from the Fracture, trying to breathe through the strong urge to start sobbing.

Once they've composed themself Chara looks over the memory with clear eyes. Another Papyrus. Interesting…and that’s only one Fracture of three…

Runt picks up the mat he’s sitting on and holds it against his chest, whimpering and hiding his face in the rug, desperate for some source of comfort.

Chara pokes the second crack.

 

_ “You’re so  _ **_fucking weak_ ** _!” _

_ Sans is slammed against the wall by his throat, choking as he struggles to breathe through the constant smoke in his face and the grip on his neck, “S-Sir wh..wh-what d-did...I d...d-do wrong…” _

_ “that fucking piece of  _ **_shit human_ ** _...they’ve ruined everything...this isn’t  _ **_my fault,_ ** _ you fucking got it?! how was i supposed to know a new RESET point would get fixed?! how was i supposed to know that you’d get  _ **_stuck like this?!”_ **

_ “I D-D-DON’T KN-KNOW P-PAPY I DON’T KNOW BUT P-PLEASE-!” _

**_“shut up!_ ** _ what if i had killed you?! did you think of that?! what if i woke up after killing you and then you never came back?! _ **_did you even think about that?! you didn’t, did you?!”_ **

_ Sans shakes his head because no, he hasn’t thought about any of these horrible things happening. He’s never once thought that his brother might kill him. “N-no n-n-no I-I’m s-s-sorry S-Sir p-please I’m s-s-sorry I d-” _

_ “you’re so  _ **_fucking weak_ ** _ now and you’re _ **_stuck like this_ ** _! you think there’s some magical cure to Fractures you dumb fuck?! is that what you think?!” _

_ “NO SIR I DON’T I’M SORRY!” _

_ “and it’s s-! you-! it’s so fucking  _ **_easy_ ** _ with you! it doesn’t even take much anymore!” _

_ Sans screams as his SOUL is drawn out, thrashing and shaking his head, “N-no no no more P-Papy p-please no more don’t b-break me a-anym-more I’ll be a g-good brother I’ll be a g-” _

**_CRACK_ **

 

The Runt gives a whimpery scream, scooting back further against the wall and not bothering to try and mask the tears pouring down his face in buckets, “P-please M-Master!” He hiccups, “N-no m-more p-please n-no m-more!”

Chara shakes their head free of Runt’s consciousness, taking a moment to check their composure. So… another Papyrus, another human capable of resetting… but this Sans didn't remember. His  _ Papyrus _ remembered. They reach for the last crack.

“P-please-!”

 

_ “where are you trying to go, Sans?” Papyrus drawls as Sans fumbles with the door knob, his breathing shallow and rapid.  _

_ He whirls around, pressing his back against it and pressing his mittened hands together. “N...n-nowhere, P-P...S-Sir…” He tries to force a smile, although his bones are rattling in fear. _

_ “mhm. just dressed super warm for pawing at the door right?” Papyrus questions, grabbing one of Sans’s wrists and tugging at the mitten. _

_ “I...I-I w-was going to ch-check the m-mail…” Sans tries. _

Snap.

_ Papyrus shakes his head as Sans gives a choked scream, toying with the freshly broken finger. “wrong.”  _

_ “I w...I w-was just going for a walk-” _

Snap.

_ “wrong. anymore lies, bro? since you’re so great at them…” Papyrus rolls his eyes, taking out his cigarette and blowing the cloud of smoke into Sans’s face. _

_ The small skeleton blinks rapidly, coughing and rubbing at his eyes. He’s abruptly smacked. _

_ “it’s rude to cough in people’s faces, little bro.” The taller skeleton admonishes. _

_ “I...I-I’m s-s-sorry…” _

_ “mhm. you’re gonna be. now tell the truth. where were you going?” _

_ Sans’s face twists up and he shakes his head, “I d...I d-d-don’t know...I j-just wanted to l-leave f-for...f-for…” _

_ “‘for for’ what, Sans? an hour? a week? forever? guess you wouldn’t be that selfless, though.” _

_ “I don’t know!” Sans wails, making another fruitless attempt to pull his arm free from Papyrus’s seemingly iron grip, “I just w-wanted out!” _

_ Papyrus sneers, giving a low chuckle, “the runt wants a walk, huh? need to get out? fine.” Papyrus throws Sans to the ground, “don’t. move.” He warns in a threatening tone. _

_ Sans obeys, staying quivering on the ground as Papyrus walks off, and then returns, “sit.” _

_ Sans turns his head up, sitting back on his heels. His eyes widen at the red collar and leash in Papyrus’s hand, “S...S-Sir wh-” _

_ “shut up.” Papyrus smacks him, putting the collar around his neck and yanking him to his feet, “the runt wants a walk so bad, you’re getting a walk.” _

_ Sans gasps as Papyrus drags him towards the door, “N-no! Papyrus p-please I w-won’t leave without p-permission again! P-please i-it’s not funny, P-Papy!” _

_ Papyrus ignores him, opening up the door and yanking Sans out. The smaller skeleton yelps as he trips down the steps, face-planting into the snow. He hears snickers and feels himself pale as there’s the sound of the door shutting behind them. Papyrus continues walking, not giving Sans time to get to his feet. His boots slip out from under him more than once as he scrambles to get up. _

_ Sans tries to walk close to Papyrus as he’s paraded through the busy street of Snowdin, but he’s repeatedly shoved back, left feeling exposed in front of countless eyes. The tug on his neck is painful but at least it’s something to focus on besides the sheer amount of humiliation he’s feeling at the degrading treatment… _

_...and then Papyrus stops. _

_ The small skeleton fretfully scratches at his own arms, his one mittenless hand clawing at the bone in spite of the broken fingers. “S...S-Sir...c-can we go h-home n-now p-please….I-I’ve learned my l-lesson…” _

_ Papyrus slowly turns around, giving a smile that chills Sans to the bone. “bro. you know i love you, right?” _

_ Sans’s eyes go wide and a desperate smile crosses his face, even as his Fractured SOUL shudders in dread, “Y-yes! Y-yes of course Sir! I l-love you t-” _

_ “so you know i’m doing this for your own good.” Papyrus steps closer, keeping a tight hold on the leash to prevent Sans from pulling away. _

_ Almost on cue Sans starts to tremble, “The...th-the w-walk…?” _

_ “see, Sans, if you had run away...you would’ve been dust instantly. everyone in this town  _ hates  _ you except for me. but everyone in this town is also scared of me. they wouldn’t attack me.” _

_ “N...n-no Sir...o-of course th-they won’t…”  _

_ “they wouldn’t attack anything that belongs to me, either. because, unlike you, they respect me.” Papyrus summons a sharp bone into his hand, his magic wrapping around Sans’s SOUL and holding him still. _

_ “Y..y-yes S-Sir I unders-stand…” What is he doing what is he doing what is he  _ **_doing_ ** **…**

_ “so i’m going to do you a favor, bro…” Papyrus’s voice is calm and steady, like someone trying to reason with and calm a frightened animal, “i’m gonna make sure that everyone knows who you belong to, so no one ever tries to kill you.” He raises the arm holding the attack, and Sans’s eyes go wide. _

_ “P-Papy no-!” _

_ The sharp bone slices through Sans’s left socket, and he screams as its dragged through his eye. He would collapse to his knees if not for Papyrus’s magic keeping him in place. The older skeleton seems to ignore his screaming as the bone is slowly dragged down his cheek. Papyrus withdraws his arm, only to dig the attack back in at the top of the gaping wound and drag it out in a loop that reconnects to the scar at a lower point. _

_ Sans’s HP flickers at 0.1 by the time Papyrus dissipates the bone. He releases Sans and the skeleton collapses into the snow, half of him praying for death, the other half frantically clinging to life. _

_ “you’re welcome, bro.” Papyrus says, crouching down and grinning at the bleeding face of his younger sibling. He drags his finger around the ‘P’ carved over his socket, stroking his head. “but i gotta punish you for disobeying me, too.” He draws out Sans’s SOUL. _

_ “P-Papy...p-please...I’m s-sorry…” Sans whispers. _

_ “i thought you were broken enough to not try something stupid like running away, but...welp...guess not  _ quite _ there…” Papyrus tosses the oddly colored SOUL in his hand, admiring the abnormal gray tone of it before bracing both hands on it, “i can fix that.” _

**_CRACK_ **

 

“P-Papy…” The Runt chokes, holding a hand over the scar on his eye that seems to ache all over again, “P-P-Pap-py…”

Chara presses a hand over their face, feeling the phantom pain of an injury that never happened. That Other Papyrus was  _ good _ . Maybe better than  _ they  _ were… maybe that was why he had a good little Sans and theirs had cracked under the pressure…

“M..M-M-Ma-ast-ter p-please…” The Runt whispers again.

“ **_What_ ** ?” Chara snaps.

“N-no m-more..” He sobs, “P-please...p-please I-I’ll b-be g-good...I’ll d-do a-anything...n-no more...p-please…”

“There aren't anymore for me to look at, idiot!” Chara snaps, throwing his SOUL back to him.

The Runt grabs it, holding it to his chest and trying to hug it, as if to comfort the little grey heart itself.

Chara ignores him. Who cares if they break this one? They can always reload. Probably. They suppose they could test that right  _ now _ ...they can make a new SAVE...tell him a word and threaten to beat him if he doesn’t remember...that would keep him from lying, at least. He’s too weak to give up any chance of avoiding pain.

They just… don't  _ want _ to reload. Or reset. Or  _ anything _ that requires Determination.

This...sad Runt...such a waste of  _ time _ ...they don’t feel like having to put forth effort to take care of him.

Still. He’s  _ theirs _ now. And Chara has never let go of something that they’ve claimed, even if they hate it.  _ Especially  _ if they hate it. 

“Runt!” Chara calls. They smack the bedcovers a few times, a clear call to ‘come’. 

It hiccups, staggering to its feet and hurrying towards them as quickly as possible. It collapses to its knees next to the bed, not sure if its allowed on the furniture without explicit permission.

“First of all--  **_wrong_ ** ,  **_dogs do not walk on their hind legs_ ** .  **_Suferos._ ** ”

Its screams are getting weaker - it probably hasn’t had a decent sleep in a long while. Once the shocks end Runt crawls back to the mat and then makes his way towards them correctly this time. “I’m s-sorry M-Master…”

“Now get up here. You're wasting my time.”

Runt jumps up onto the bed, crawling up to them and laying down, trembling.

“I’m going to ask you about this later. You’re going to repeat what I’m about to tell you when I ask, or I’m going to beat you with a cattle prod.” Chara says softly.

“O..o-okay M-Master…”

“‘Reset’.” Chara says simply.

“Okay...I-I c-can remember that!” That’s easy enough. That’s  _ really  _ easy...he can do this. He can make them happy with him!

Chara nods sharply and gets up, walking to the corner of their room to do… something. Afterward, they turn around. “You need to tell it to me  _ three _ times when I ask you about it.”

“Y-yes Master!”

Chara reloads and turns around. “What did I ask you to remember?”

“‘RESET’!” Runt chirps, eyelights bright with happiness.

Chara’s not sure if the fact that he doesn’t remember the reloads is a good thing, but they’ll...go with it for now. “Good boy.”

He smiles widely, and Chara hears a familiar but muffled  _ thump thump  _ against the mattress at their words. “Thank you, M-Master!”

Stupid little Runt… Making them miss Sans all over again. Chara wants to tear their hair out!

He seems to have a sixth sense for other people's’ anger, as the happy expression on his face immediately dies, replaced by one of fear, “D...d-did I d-do something w-wrong…?”

“No. Go back to bed.” Chara says shortly.

“...y-yes M-Master…” Runt whispers, crawling off the bed and going back to the rug, pausing, “...uhm..M-Master m-may I a-ask a q-question…?”

“If you’re quick about it!”

“W-will the c-collar k-keep sh-shocking me?” He blurts out as quickly as possible.

“Yes, it’s on a timer.”

“C...c-c-can you t-turn it o-off, p-please, M-Master….?”

“Why would I do that?”

“I…” Runt’s eyes fall to the ground and he swallows, “...I...y-you’re right, I d...I d-deserve this, I-I’m sorry f-for asking, M-Master…” He curls back up on the rug, trembling in apprehension for the next shock.

Chara huffs and rolls over. Fuck it. They don’t care. They don’t want to hear him beg. They don’t want to play with him. They just want to watch him suffer, and even that isn’t any  _ fun _ . Sans had been  _ fun _ !

 

Why do they hate him so much…?

He’s aware that he deserves to be hated, but usually it takes someone at least a day or two to realize why…

...maybe they’re just really smart…

Runt sniffs and gives a weak cry as he hears the beeping, muffling himself as best he can to avoid disturbing his Master as the pain wracks his body.

 

Chara cracks after the third time they wake up. What, was this little bitch made of styrofoam? They get up and stomp over, quickly disabling the collar’s constant shock.

Runt yelps and starts crying as there’s more beeping, but it dies out as the sound isn’t followed by anymore shocking. He blinks through his teary vision, looking up at them, “Wh…?”

“I turned it off, you useless little brat.” Chara sneers.

His eyes widen and he jerks towards them, wrapping his arms around their waist and staying on his knees as he hugs them tightly, sobbing,  _ “Thank you _ , M-Master, th-thank you!”

Ugh. And now it’s being all cuddly again.

They’re still not happy...they’re still not happy he’s not doing good enough…

What...what had...all that Runt knew about dogs was what he’d seen of the dogs in Waterfall, back home...they would come to his food stand sometimes. They were some of the few monsters that actually showed affection to each other in public, usually by…

Oh he could get in so much trouble for this but he has to try…

Taking a breath, Runt pushes himself up a little further on his hind legs and licks their cheek. 

Chara freezes for just a moment. It had always felt like the biggest accomplishment they could manage when Sans was out of it enough to do this. But like with everything else, they aren’t satisfied. It feels cheap. Too easy.

They don’t even have to say it...Runt can sense it...not good enough…

He drops back to his knees, gaze falling to the floor, “....I’m s-sorry…”

“Go to sleep.” They don’t even look at him as they return to their bed.

“I..I c-can’t be him…” Runt whispers, “I’m s-sorry but I c...I c-can’t...I’m s-so sorry…”

“I’m well aware you can’t be him. That’s the problem.”

“...are….a-are you g-going to kill m-me, M-Master…?”

Chara shrugs. “I don’t know yet.”

“...o-okay...g..g-goodnight, M-Master…”

“... Goodnight, Runt.”

 

Years of living with a Papyrus who might come home silently or drunk and angry has taught Runt to wake up quickly at any suspicious noise, to brace himself for pain. He hears a quiet knocking and wakes up immediately, looking at the door. He hears it again, and realizes it's coming from the closet…

Frowning, he looks at the bed. Chara is still sleeping deeply. He’s not surprised - the knocking is barely audible.

Slowly he crawls over, opening up the door and peering inside, “H..hello…?”

“cold.”

“..oh, uhm…” Runt squints, looking at the blanket covering him, “Is..i-is that not warm?”

“charm wore off. cold.” 

“...I see…”

This skeleton (his name is also Sans?)...he wouldn’t...really care if...if he was...used like a stuffed animal, right? Runt had been careful to keep those hidden in his room where Papyrus would never find them, as they were a delightful source of comfort in dark nights. But here, in this place, he’s without even a blanket, and…

“...okay, uhm…” Runt checks over his shoulder. He can...probably wake up before Chara, right?

Taking a deep breath, he crawls inside the closet with Sans, shifting himself so he’s lying behind the Shattered skeleton. He pulls the blanket over both of them, wrapping his arms around Sans and holding his hands in front of his chest. He’s not good at much magic (Papyrus always got mad when he practiced it, for some reason…) but he knows spells to keep warm, and he’s had enough food lately to warm up this blanket again for at least a few hours.

“...is this okay…?” He asks in an unsure whisper.

Sans says nothing.

“..okay…” Skeletons aren’t very cuddly. Runt hugs him closer to his chest anyway, closing his eyes, “..g-goodnight…”

Sans says nothing. But his quiet shivering stops and he falls asleep a few minutes later, along with the Runt.


	3. Hate in its Purest Form is Unfair

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They hate him.

Chara wakes up to an empty room. Something is… wrong. Where is Sans? Did they put him back in the dungeon?

…

…

… No…

He was in the closet, right. But why do they feel like something is missing, out of place--

Oh.

Runt. He’s… not there.

Did he run away? It seemed unlikely, but they  _ had  _ passively threatened to dust him last night after all.

Oh well.

Chara gets up and walks over to the closet. Time to check on Sans…

They open the closet door and are greeted by a quiet groan. Sans doesn’t make noises like that anymore, though…

Then they count two skulls.

“What’s going on?” They demand, not as coldly as they would have if it were just Runt.

The smaller skeleton lifts his head, blinking blearily. His eyelights focus on Chara and they shrink, cowering back, “I...h-he...h-he said he w-was cold, M-Master..”

“Sansy? Are you okay?”

“yes.” 

Chara nods. “How did you end up in here together?” 

Runt can't help but notice the way the human’s voice drops to a lower, more soothing tone even though they're still talking to him. “I...I h-heard him knocking, o-on the door...h-he said he w-was cold so...so I f-figured...b-both of us, we..i-it’d be...warmer...M-Master…”

Chara nods again, a bit more sharply, and points to the rug. “Go over there, I need to check the blanket.”

Runt obeys quickly, although making sure to disturb Sans’s position as little as possible as he does so. He sits, dog-like, on the rug, feeling his stubby tail tuck itself between his legs as he watches the ground.

Chara fires a quick check spell at Sans, worried. That little brat could have done anything to their puppy in the night…

_ Sans _

_ 1HP _

_ Warm _

They shudder slightly. They don't like reading the simple, base answers that come from Checking a Shattered monster. But they're at least glad he's not cold anymore. “Go sit with Runt, please.”

Sans crawls out from under the blanket, seating himself next to Runt. He no longer bothers sitting like a dog. Chara doesn’t pay it any mind. Another check spell, aimed at the blanket, then they pull out their phone and text a servant.

Runt looks Sans over, his eyes filling with pity at the skeleton’s empty look. Hesitantly he reaches for him, taking his mangled hand and stroking it gently.

To his surprise, a pair of dim, small eyelights wavers slightly, then focuses on him. He scootches forward, tilting his head and observing Sans’s face. “H...h-hello…?” He tries, holding the skeleton’s mangled paw a little tighter. “Are you there…?”

The other’s brow furrows slightly.

“M...m-my name is Sans...too...uhm...not..n-not anymore, I..I g-guess…”

“wrong universe.”

Runt’s eyes widen and he sits up a bit, “Y...you s..w-well I guess this isn’t the first time you spoke b-but y...w-wait, I-I’m sorry, wh..what…?”

“my machine…” Sans squints at him slightly, for just a second, before his complete apathy returns, “hm.”

“Wait...w-wait no, no don’t..d-don’t go back to that face p-please keep talking, Sans!” Runt pleads, taking him by the shoulders and shaking him slightly, “Don’t go away!”

Chara turns around at the noise. “ **_Get away_ ** .” 

Runt falls back from Sans at Chara’s voice like they’ve shot him, “I-I’m s-sorry I’m s-sorry I w-wasn’t hurting him I j-just-”

Chara’s ignoring him, rushing over to check over Sans frantically.

_ Sans _

_ 1 HP _

_ Fine _

They pick him up and carry him over to their bed, laying him out and tucking him in. Runt falls silent and Sans closes his eyes as soon as he lays down, easily going back to sleep.

Frustration courses through the human and they clench their fists.  _ It’s not fair, they’re so alone…  _

Runt watches the human tremble, and takes a risk, checking them.

_ Chara Dreemurr _

_ 4 LOVE, 32 HP _

_ Grieving and doesn’t understand why _ .

“Oh…” Runt slowly crawls over to them, resting by their legs and looking up at them from the floor, “...y...y-you really..r-really miss him…”

Chara glares down at him. “Yes.” 

“I’m...sorry...I...I-I’ll do my b-best to make you h-happy, Master, b-but I...I-I’m not g-good enough to r-replace a-anybody…”

“That,” Chara jeers, “is obvious.”

“...if...i-if it makes you h-happy you c-can hurt me…”

Chara shrugs.

“I-it’s fine...i-it’s all I’m r-really g-good for, a-anyway, Master…”

“It’s-- It’s not  _ right _ .” Chara snarls suddenly. “I don’t feel  _ happy _ when you suffer, I feel  _ nothing _ ! I want  _ my _ Sansy back!”

Runt swallows, nudging his head against their leg, “I’m sorry….” 

“I shouldn’t have--” they shake their head.

“Sh..sh-shouldn’t have wh-what, M-Master…?”

“ **_Shouldn’t have let him Shatter_ ** .”

He goes silent for a moment at their voice, keeping his eyes down and trying not to tremble in fright. After a minute he sits up on his knees, offering his arms out to them.

Chara kicks him away. Runt quickly retreats, taking the hint and going back to his rug. Chara doesn’t want him, they’re just stuck with him. That’s all. It’s only a matter of time before he’s dusted like the waste of space he is…

  
  
  


“I don’t want to look at you anymore.” Chara mutters. It’s the first time they’ve spoken for almost a day, and the words make Runt flinch.

He looks at the closet, but then decides to crawl under the bed instead.

“Back out here. We’re going for a walk.”

Runt’s SOUL shudders in dread at the word but he obeys, crawling out and trying not to tremble, “O-okay, M-Master…” 

Chara pulls a leash off of their nightstand and clips it to his collar.

They’re not Papyrus...they’re  _ not  _ Papyrus...he just has to remember that…

It’s going to be fine…

He follows the tug of the leash, crawling after them and keeping his head down.

It’s late evening, and the halls are packed. Runt starts loudly reciting cooking recipes in his head to drown out the jeering and snickers he's hearing directed at him. His Master is taking him for a walk, he has to be  _ grateful,  _ and grateful doesn't look like crying in the middle of the hallway.

There’s a huge pair of sturdy-looking double doors at the end of the hallway. Runt feels himself growing nervous as they near them but he keeps up the pace, turning his eyes to the floor. 

The doors open to stairs. A massive amount of stairs. Going down. And… it’s dark.

“I-I can't see!” Runt blurts, falling back a bit, “I-it’s t-too d-dark, M-Master, I c-can’t see!”

“It’s stairs. You go down them. It’s not hard.”

“N-no. Nope. No I c-can’t s-see it's t-too dark I c-can’t..” Runt’s nails start digging into the tile and he stops moving, his breathing growing shallow as his eyelights shrink. Too dark. Too dark too dark too dark….!

Chara shoves him down the stairs, letting go of the leash. 

He screams as his tiny body tumbles down the stone steps, smacking his head more than enough times to leave him in a dizzy haze at the bottom of the stairs, lying at the feet of some perplexed guards.

“Nothing to see here, boys~.” Chara hums, thumping down after him.

Runt curls up on the ground, holding his head and groaning in pain. 

“C’mon, mutt~.”

His leash is grabbed and he’s yanked along, choking and scrambling to get to his feet.

Chara takes him into a cellblock and pushes him into a tiny little room with bars for one wall. He tumbles to his knees, turning around and staring at them with wide eyes. “M-Master…?”

“I told you, I don't want to look at you!” They snap, turning to go.

“I’m s-sorry…” Runt whimpers, curling up in the corner of the cell and pressing his forehead into his knees as he trembles, “I’m s-so sorry..”

“I'll be back. Eventually.” They mutter, sliding through the doorway.

“Please…” Runt whimpers, shoulders tensing at the multiple leers he's getting from the guards and inmates alike. “Please…”

“Looks like the Prinx got a new puppy!” Somebody calls with a laugh.

Runt gasps and retreats further into the corner, tucking his legs in and hiding his face against them, whimpering. 

“You sure that's not the old one with a new coat of paint?”

“Nah. Lookit.”

Magic wraps around Runt’s SOUL and jerks him forward towards the bars. He gasps as his jaw is pried open, putting his mouth on display, “Ghk!”

“Lookit his teeth. All smooth and shit. And this…” 

Runt whimpers as his scar is traced. 

“Looks old. Would be able to tell if it was fresh.”

The guard holding him pokes at one of the chips in his jaw. Runt gives another sharp whimper, bracing his hands against the bars and trying to push back. “‘Leas…”

“You think the Prinx will mind if we play with him a bit?” Another guard asks as the first tugs him back into place.

“You heard about Mold and that Tem..” The first says warningly.

“Eh. Good point. But I actually heard it was the dog itself that did Mold in.”

“The point is he was done in. Just don't push it in  _ that _ way, you know?”

“I don't think its Master really cares.” A cat-like guard yanks at the leash left behind on Runt’s collar, earning a yelp, “Do they?” He asks in a sneer.

Runt’s chin trembles but he says nothing. 

“I mean they seemed to actually like the other one. You know I saw them playing fetch with it in the courtyard once? And they never brought the little thing down  _ here _ .”

Runt turns his eyes down, shrugging weakly. As though he can pretend not to care…

The cell door swings open and he’s yanked out. He yelps, stumbling to his knees and trembling, “P-ple-ease..” He sobs, giving up quickly on trying to not look weak. He was dragged in on a collar for star’s sake...who would he fool? 

Nobody, that’s who.

He’s shoved to the floor, on all fours. Runt finds himself staring at the cat monster’s shoes.

“Clean it.” He orders sharply.

Papy would do this...Runt doesn't even have to ask how. He just shuts his eyes and starts licking the dirty boot clean, whimpering and coughing as he does so. It’s much worse than the gunk from Papy’s shoes-- He’s sure there’s dust in the mix… 

He tries not to think about it.

“What a good little pup.” The cat laughs, checking over his boot before holding out the next one.

It would be nice if Master thought the same thing, Runt thinks miserably. But he's not even close to good enough for them. 

Another guard rushes over. “We don’t wanna kill the little bitch, Boss.” They hold out a bracelet to the cat.

The feline takes it, inspecting the magic core and laughing, “You and the boys getting antsy?”

“Maybe a little. Besides, you know once they get going it’s hard to make em stop.”

“Alright.” The cat crouches down and takes Runt’s arm, locking the core in place and handing his leash to the waiting guard. “I'm sure the Prinx won't mind.”

“Hope not or we’re all goners. Still can’t believe Captain Papyrus resigned in disgrace over their old dog…” The guard who brought the bracelet gives Runt a kick. “I didn’t hear him tell you to stop!”

Runt tries to pull his arm free so he can lower himself back to the ground, and is rewarded with the toe of the boot he’s cleaned hitting him squarely in the stomach. He cries out and falls back as the sensitive ecto-flesh around his stomach is struck, landing on his back and gasping for breath. “I-I’m s-sorry..!”

“What a fucking baby!” The inmate in the cell across from the one he’d been in cackles.

That about describes him, Runt thinks. Just a baby. He feels like one, anyway.

The collar is given another yank and he’s dragged away towards an even scarier looking room at the back of the dungeon.

Now would be great time for him to black out or die or anything--

He’s thrown onto the floor of the room.

“Don’t wanna get in trouble for ruining its clothes after all.” A beetle-like guard hums, nudging its hip with his foot, “Strip down, puppy.”

Runt pushes himself to his knees, blushing madly, “Wh-what?! N..n-no I c..I c-can’t!”

The nudge becomes a kick, sending him skittering backwards. He huddles against the wall, his breathing becoming rapid as his eyelights shrink, “No..n-no p-please...p-please, p-please, s-sirs, p-please…!”

“You sure we can’t just rip it off?”

“Rather not risk it.” The beetle clicks, taking a whip off the wall and striking out at Runt, aiming for the small ecto-flesh around his middle. As expected, this hurts far worse than if it were bone. He screams, curling in over himself. “Strip down, puppy. Or I’ll cut open that stomach of yours. You can’t die, you know - that core on your arm makes it impossible, unless we fucking blast you to pieces. Understand? The better you are, the less painful we’ll make this.”

Runt hiccups, hesitating and then shutting his eyes, pulling the shorts down and off of his body. Luckily he’s slightly too starved to have his lower ectobody formed, and so all that shows now is his pelvis-

“He has a  _ tail _ !” The other guard howls, laughing so hard he’s bent over, “I thought Molds was kidding when he was braggin’ about fuckin’ the other one but holy fuck!”

Raspberry tucks the stubby appendage away between his legs and turns into the wall, hiding his face in his hands.

“It’s all short and weird though.” The beetle’s eyes light up in sadistic glee. “Hey, hey doggy! You should chase your tail.”

Runt slides to his seat and grabs hold of the tail at his side, rubbing his thumb over the serrated end, where Papy had forced him to cut it short. It still has a phantom pain to it… 

“I said chase it, not grab it!”

“..I..”

The whip raises again and strikes Runt across the face, drawing marrow from a gash in his cheek - the weapon has blades on it. Runt’s eyes widen in horror and he gets to his feet, swallowing and turning, trying to grab hold of his tail.

_ Crack _ ! Another strike from the whip has him sprawling.

“You’re really bad at this!”

“I-I’m sorry! I’ve n-never ch-chased my t-tail b-before!” He whines.

“Doggies don’t walk, they crawl, you dumbass.”

“...o-oh…”

“Call yourself a naughty doggy.” The beetle sneers, its black eyes glinting.

Runt gulps as he gets to his hands and knees slowly, “I...I-I’m a n-naughty doggy…?”

“And what do naughty doggies get?”

“I...I-I d-don’t kn-know, s-sir…”

“Say ‘I’m a naughty doggy, please punish me!’”

Runt looks back and forth between the two guards’ faces, eyelights quivering in fear at the expression in their eyes. He knows he’s stupid, but he’s not entirely naive. He knows what these words he’s being asked to say are doing for his tormentors. He turns his eyes down, “...’m a naughtydogpleasepunishme.” He mumbles.

_ Crack _ ! Another cut opens on his face as the whip comes down. “I can't hear you, doggy!”

Runt yelps, holding his face and curling over himself, “P…..I-I’m a n-naughty d-doggy...p-please p-punish m-m-me…”

“Alright, you asked for it.” The whip comes down.

Runt ducks down, guarding the scar on his face with both hands. He can't let that get harmed - he can't. Papyrus is going to rescue him and he'll be mad if he sees his mark at all damaged.

Papyrus  _ has  _ to come save him, right…?

“P-Papy p-please…” Runt sobs quietly, “I-I’ll b-be good j-just come t-take me h-home,  _ please _ …”

“Who’s Papy, your girlfriend?”

“I w-want my b-brother!” Runt suddenly wails, sobbing heavily, “I w-want P-Papyrus! I w-want to go  _ h-home!” _

“Little bitch is talking nonsense now. Unless he really  _ is  _ the old puppy with a new coat of paint.” The feline stomps on his hand.

Runt cries, trying to pull his arm free.

“I'm counting ten fingers and two feet. Sans wasn't so lucky last I saw him.”

“That kinda damage don't go away overnight. This little bitch is delusional.”

_ “I want my brother!”  _ Runt screams again, sobbing harder and fighting to pull his arm free, “ _ Papy! Papy please!  _ **_Papy_ ** !”

“Dear stars, somebody shut this little bitch  _ up _ !” The beetle monster punctuates his statement by kicking Runt in the head.

“ _ Papyyy!” _

The other guard shoves Runt onto his stomach and jams a gag into his mouth, pulling it tightly around his head, “There. That's a bit better.”

He takes a moment to grab Runt’s tail and use it to yank him back onto all fours. Runt sobs into the demeaning muzzle, trying to keep his face down. 

“Lookit this mess. There’s blood all over the floor.”

“Hot.”

Runt shuts his eyes and goes limp against the floor as the two guards argue over who's going to clean the blood, taking advantage of the opportunity to catch his breath. 

“Why not make him do it?”

“We just got it in that gag!”

“Yeah but it'll be hot.”

“You’re fucking disgusting. We take that gag off all he’s gonna do is cry more.”

“Yeah yeah. Heh, maybe we should just give him to the Dogi as a wedding anniversary present. We can blame it on an inmate.”

“Yeah because inmates go around giving other prisoners as gifts.”

“I never said I had  _ good _ ideas, Joe.”

“Fuck all this whimpering its making...driving me crazy…” Joe grabs Runt by his neck and pulls him to his knees, shoving him back against the wall, “Listen here, Runt. You know Sans? You see that little fucker’s hands?”

Runt nods, eyelights darting back and forth between the two guards.

“You’re gonna shut the fuck up, and you’re gonna do what we say, or we’re going to break off your fingers and feed them to you, you  _ fucking understand _ ?!”

Runt’s eyelights shrink and he gives another nod, squeezing his eyes shut as more tears start forming.

“ _ Good.  _ **_Now stop fucking crying_ ** !”

Runt claps his hands over his mouth and holds his breath, trembling violently.

“Geez, Tom…” 

“I shut it up didn't I?!”

“You need to get that anger out, huh?”

“Thankfully there's a good candidate right here.”

Runt bites back a whimper as Tom is handed the whip. No...no, no, please…

“Face the wall. Put that tail of yours in the air.”

He has to do what they say...he doesn’t want to lose his fingers...how will he make Papy dinner if he doesn’t have any fingers?

Staying on all fours, Runt turns around, lifting his tail and trying to breathe steadily.

The whip comes down  _ hard _ on his ectobody, over and over and  _ over _ …whenever it stops, its just replaced by boots and fists. He tries begging through the gag, but his incomprehensible babbling goes unheeded. Blood is soaking into the stone floor by the time the guards wear themselves.

Still. He hasn’t cried. He has to make Papy dinner, the delusioned skeleton reminds himself. Pain and exhaustion make his head spin as he tries to think about what would make a good dinner tonight. Probably not spaghetti tacos again...that’s  _ his  _ favorite, not Papyrus’s...what’s Papyrus’s favorite? He never says… He just leaves Sans to guess and flounder. Maybe if somebody would actually  _ tell _ him what they wanted from him he'd stop screwing up so much…

What’s the chances of that happening, though…

“Okay.” Tom pants, “I’m winded.”

“Should we put it back in its cell?”

“I think it should clean up its mess.” 

“This again?”

“Hey, you got to make it dirty talk, I get to watch it lap at the floor. Fair’s fair.”

Runt groans in pain as the muzzle is removed, blinking blearily at the two guards staring down at him. “Wh…?”

“Clean up your mess, puppy.” Tom sneers, kicking him towards the largest blood stain on the floor.

It’s so disgusting...stars, this is so  _ wrong _ ...but he has no choice...he never does. Runt whimpers and slowly forms his tongue, lapping at the bloody ground and shuddering at the taste of his own marrow.

 

It’s a while before the pair leave, laughing and warning that he’d better have it all cleared up by the time they get back. He miserably drags himself across the room, positive that one of his legs is broken or at least severely fractured. He’s going to be late for making Papyrus supper at this rate...oh stars it hurts...everything hurts...but he can’t cry...he can’t cry he’ll get his fingers taken away… He loses track of time, fading in and out of consciousness. The door opens too soon.

“No...no…” Runt whimpers, licking faster at the stubborn stain of red on the floor, “P-please, I..I n-need my hands, s-sirs, p-please..”

“Sansy?!” Chara rushes in, kneeling beside him.

“I-I c-can get it c-clean s-sirs p-please d...n-no m-more pain,  _ p-please _ …” His voice starts to crack, “I’m t-trying not to cry..” He adds in a choked whisper.

“Sansy…” Chara scoops him up, trying to use the bonder connection to help him break back into reality-- only to feel the crushing emptiness of Sans’s shattered SOUL. It’s only then they realize this isn’t Sans. It’s just the stupid Runt...why should they care…

“O-ow…” Runt hiccups, blinking to clear the tears in his eyes, “M..M-Master…?”

 

He sounds so fragile…

 

“Hey, it’s me…”

A broken smile spreads over Runt’s face, “Y-you c-came back f-for me…”

“...Yeah. I did.”

“ _ Thank you _ …” Runt nuzzles his face against their shoulder, hiccuping, “I w-was so scared...th-thank you…”

“Who did this to you? The guards?”

“Y-yes M-Master…”

Anger courses through them. Why the  _ hell  _ had they thought this was a good idea?

As usual he senses their anger, and starts to tremble, “I’m s-sorry...I-I’m s-sorry I sh-should h-have been s-stronger..”

“Hush. I’m not mad at you.” This, at least, is familiar territory.

“I’m sorry..” He whispers again, crying out as their arm jostles him too hard, “Ah! Ggghhh M-Master p-please m-make the p-pain s-stop..” He sobs.

Chara carries him out of the room, past a pair of guards that jeer at him. When Runt flinches they take note and give the men the evil eye. They just laugh and shout lewd comments to Runt before taking their leave to a different station.

It’s those parting comments that make Chara freeze. 

They yank Runt’s head around and stare at him. “Did they rape you?!” They hiss.

He tenses, choking and stammering for a second before shaking his head, “N-no..n-no, M-Master…”

Is he lying? His shorts are missing, after all…

But there’s no other sign… just a lot of lash marks.

“M...M-Master…? A-are you okay…?” The bleeding, should-be-dead skeleton asks in a weak voice. They’ve gotten a lot paler, all of a sudden, it seems.

Frantically, they check his wrist. The magic core is locked around his tibia securely, holding his HP steadily in place. Thank fuck.

“I’m fine.”

“C...c-can you p-please m-make the p-pain s-stop, M-Master…?” He feels like he should be dead…

“When I get you upstairs.” Chara confirms.

“Th-thank you...th-thank you so m-much Master…”

“... no problem.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, feel free to spitball ideas at us. -LR


	4. Home Again Home Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wrong home, but still home.

Runt tries to stop whimpering. He really does. But oh  _ stars  _ it hurts so bad...every bone in his body is screaming from the abuse, and he feels like he’s just seconds away from crumbling to dust...he’s unaware that the magic core around his arm is literally just barely keeping that from happening. All he can process is pain, pain, and more pain…

But Chara carries him upstairs as though he’s a toddler, steadfastly trying to keep in mind that this isn’t their Sansy. It’s just the Runt. It’s just that  _ stupid  _ copy that they  _ hate _ …

He cries out as a stumbling step jars his arm and he buries his face further into their sweater, sobbing, “It h-hurts...M-Master p-please h-help m-me…”

“I need a minute, Sansy, I can’t wave a magic wand and make you better.”

It’s so nice to hear his name again. Sort of. “I’m s-sorry…”

“Shush.”

Runt obeys, but still nuzzles their shoulder, to ground himself with their physical presence as they carry him to their room.

Once inside they lay him out on the floor and grab their phone to text for aid. Runt watches them through hazy eyes, trying to stay awake through the pain. Usually Papyrus would coddle him and heal him far before this point...this is...this is much more horrible than anything he’s ever done before...anything he’s ever been through…

...is he in hell? Is hell real? Is this place hell?

There’s a knock on the door and Chara rushes to get it, leaving him alone on the floor. He panics as they vanish from sight, struggling to sit up, “M-Master…? M-Master?! W-wait, d-don’t leave…”

They're back in an instant with a bottle and another monster. 

“M-Master…” Runt breathes out, relaxing as they enter his line of sight again.

“Shush and take your pain meds while the doctor looks at you.” Chara offers the bottle to his teeth. He parts his mouth and shuts his eyes, drinking the liquid down in good faith, even though he believes that Chara would have every reason to poison him.

Instantly, the pain vanishes, replaced by a fogginess in his mind. “Mweh...th-thank you...oh y-you’re s..you’re s-so nice…” Runt reaches out for them, only able to reach the hem of their shorts. He makes do and strokes their knee affectionately, “S-so nice...m-my Master is s-so nice to me…”

“He’ll be in a delirious state for a few  hours.” The doctor says as he begins healing the skeleton’s wounds, “Longer, if he continues to go without food and drink.”

“I’ll make sure to feed him, no worries, doc.”

The monster gives a grunt and then stands up, handing Chara the rest of the potion, “Small doses only. Good afternoon, Prinx.” He gives a nod and then takes his leave.

“I can't get rid of you can I?” Chara mutters, looking down at him.

“‘s my Masssterrr…” Runt stretches out his arms for them eagerly, struggling to sit up with his body feeling oddly numb in many places.

They chuckle. He  _ is _ kind of cute, in his own right.

He doesn’t manage to sit up, but he rolls onto his other side closer to them. He resorts to hugging their legs and curling around their foot, purring loudly. Chara scoops him up and plops him onto the bed. They hop up to sit beside him. Immediately he drags himself closer to them, boldly putting his head in their lap and nuzzling their stomach.

“Mmmassterrr…” He purrs, eyes closing as he smiles widely, “My mmassterrr...hmmmmm…”

“I  _ guess _ I can keep you… certainly don't want anyone  _ else _ to have you.”

“Hmmmm…” Runt hums, rolling onto his stomach and loosely hugging them around the waist, “So nice...sucha nice...master...so nice...to me...hmmmm...thank you, Master...for bein’ so….so nnnicee…”

Yeah. Nice. Sansy would agree with that.  _ Not _ . Their hand on his arm gets tighter and he gives a whine.

“Whhhyyy?!” He cries, suddenly very despondent.

“Why what?”

“Why’s...mad?  _ Again _ ? What’dI do...I’m  _ sorry _ , Master ‘m  _ sorryy _ …”

“ _ God fucking dammit you didn't do  _ **_anything_ ** !”

Runt falls deathly quiet. And then a bout of hiccuping hits him.

“Oh come on…” Chara mutters, rubbing his spine. He immediately starts purring again, although hiccups occasionally interrupt the noise. 

He nuzzles his head against their arm, hugging them tighter, “Mmmaster..”

“Yeah yeah, I'm your master. Good boy. Go to sleep or something…”

“Love you…” Runt slurs.

Chara freezes. No. Not okay. Getting Sans to ‘love them’ had been the whole reason-- No.

“Love my Master...good careof me…” He nuzzles their hand, purring and twitching his stub of a tail, “Thank you…”

Chara stands abruptly and leaves the room entirely.

“Master…?” He runs his hand over the mattress where they were, eyes furrowing in concern. He continues this for several minutes, as if they might abruptly reappear in that spot after a while. But this doesn’t happen, and the drug finally causes him to pass out.

 

Chara sits on the edge of the table in the kitchen, watching Toriel cook. It’s interesting, how this particular thread of events brought her back into Asgore’s arms. It's nice, sitting with their mom again. Even if their emotions feel metaphorically as though they fell into a rollercoaster going upside down at 90 mph.

She seems to sense their distress, “What's wrong, my child?”

“I miss my puppy.” Chara mutters, staring at their sneakers.

“I thought your father found you another one...do you not like it?”

“Honestly it feels like a cheap imitation.” Chara mutters. “I'm very grateful Daddy found him for me, but it's… not really same, I guess. I had to work hard to housebreak Sansy. This one was practically already broken.”

“Pets can never really be  _ replaced,  _ my child...perhaps you should try appreciating your new pet for what it is on its own, instead of trying to make it be your old puppy.”

“Yeah, but… that still means I miss my old puppy. We’ve come full circle.” They blink up at her, honestly confused.

Toriel smiles softly, going over to them and wrapping them in a fuzzy embrace, “I miss my old children...but having you dulls the ache, some. You remind me so much of..” She tears up a bit, “...well. But I love you for yourself, sweetie. You bring such new joy into my life…” She kisses their forehead.

On the plus side, they remind their mom of themself. That’s a good thing. Probably. Maybe. Though it did muddy the waters of her advice just a bit. Still, they hug her. They  _ have _ missed her during the endless genocide runs.

“Learn to let go of the past, dear one.” Toriel says abruptly, turning around and hurrying back to the stove as it beeps, “It will help you in the long run.”

 

“...I wonder if your Papyrus is anything like my Papy…” Runt murmurs, feeding Sans another bite of mashed potatoes from his bowl. He's obediently stuck to his assigned meals of dog food and (if he's lucky) cereal and soup, not giving into the temptation to steal from his Shattered clone. “...you have some scars, but nothing like mine...did your Papyrus ever mark you? Please answer…”

“no.”

Tacking on a ‘please answer’ has been a cheap trick to get ‘conversation’ out of the Shattered skeleton. He can only really answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’, and it's the only thing Runt can get him to do besides eat. Sans won't take any elaborate orders, even from Chara - Frisk had done him a MERCY by being his final Breaker. It kept him from being Chara’s robotic slave.

“Oh...I see...what's your Papyrus like? Is he strong? Please answer..”

“yes.” Sans takes another bite.

“He...did he ever hurt you…? Please answer..”

“yes.”

“D...d-did he ever Fracture you? Please answer..”

“yes.”

“...I see...d...d-did he ever, uhm...p-put you on a leash? Please answer…”

“no.”

“No? Oh...did you ever fight him? Please answer..”

“yes.”

Runt’s eyes widen as he sets the empty bowl aside, “Why would...b-but he knows what's best…” Runt shakes his head, feeling sick just at the idea of ever fighting back against Papyrus. “...I don't understand you...I  _ can't _ ...but I want to...I want to be like you...so that...so that M-Master won't hate me…” Runt scoots closer to Sans, lying down and huddling close to him, “...but you're so much different than me...you're  _ stronger _ ...I can't be strong…”

He wraps an arm over Sans’s shoulder. Sans doesn't care. The Runt is very cuddly. Warm. Lots of questions today. It doesn't matter. 

“... Did Master love you? Please, answer.”

Sans doesn't answer. That's a question that would need thought. A formation of an opinion. Chara had said it.  Sure. But did they mean it? 

That would require thought on Sans’s end. He doesn't have that capacity anymore.

“...it's okay...I'm...I'm sure th-they did…” Runt murmurs, “Why..why e-else would they be so upset that you're gone…”

Sans doesn't care. He doesn't care. He doesn't know why this little monster is clinging to him-- wrong universe. He doesn't belong here. The machine. Right. “Chara lies.”

Runt sits up a bit, staring down at him, “Oh you sp-! ….wh..wh-who’s Chara..? P-please answer…”

“Chara. ‘master’.” 

“...I thought their name w-was Charity…?”

“Chara lies.”

Runt stares, and then slowly lays back down, “...I see…” There’s a pause. “...did...d-did you love them? Please answer…”

“no.” His broken and frantic mind had managed to convince himself of that once or twice, but in the end, looking back on everything with a crystal clear if not completely broken mind, Sans knows that he never did.

“...oh..”

There’s a slam from outside of the closet. Both of them flinch in unison.

Runt subconsciously holds Sans a little tighter, whimpering as he watches the closet door. 

Chara slams it open and eyes the pair. Runt feels Sans’s hold slacken slightly and knows his brief moment of lucidity is over.

“H...h-h-hello, M-Master…”

“ **_Get out_ ** .”

Runt obeys, scrambling out from the closet and to the far corner of the room.

“ **_I mean leave. Go the fuck back to wherever you came om_ ** !”

“B...b-but I c-can’t-”

“ **_GO OR I DUST YOU_ ** !”

Choking on a sob, Runt gets to his feet and runs out the door, huddling over his naked body and trying not to think about anything but putting distance between him and his...ex-master…

Where is he going to go? Who’s going to  _ take  _ him?

Runt sees an open door and slips inside, finding a basket of laundry. It’s most likely dirty but he digs through it until he finds something that semi-fits him. A very long dress shirt that barely reaches his mid-thighs. He feels awful for stealing but what else can he do?

Whimpering still, Runt looks around the outside of the hall before slinking away, skirting around the edges of the palace. He has to get out...if the child sees him again they’ll kill him but where can he  _ go _ …

“...Papy…” He whispers, wiping at his eyes. Will this place’s Papyrus want  _ anything  _ to do with him…?

Probably not...but he doesn’t know where else to go...he can’t stay a homeless vagrant running around Snowdin, not with this collar that he can’t get off and this outfit, or lack thereof, really…

...maybe he can just...earn some clothes by cleaning and/or cooking, and then…

He doesn’t know. He doesn’t know ‘what then’. He’s never had to try and survive like this. When he’d first come to this...new universe he’d already been so tired and beaten that he’d barely been able to think, and now he’s thinking too  _ much  _ and it’s scaring him…

Runt finds an open window (one on the first floor, thankfully - he’s terrified of heights) and climbs through it, pulling the hem of the giant shirt down as far as he can and hurrying off. Will the Riverperson even take him…?

He can only hope so...there’s no way he’ll be able to navigate through all of Hotland and Waterfall and survive.

 

 

Papyrus nearly misses the tiny, timid little knock on the door. However, the house is very...quiet, without Sans to yell at. He smells spaghetti burning (again) on the stove but goes to answer the door anyway.

The skeleton on the doorstep immediately drops to his knees, clasping his hands together, to keep himself from throwing his arms around Papyrus and getting himself dusted, “P..P-Papyrus…?” He looks so  _ different _ ...he has to be sure…

Papyrus stares. There's not a lot else he can do. This little thing  _ looks _ like Sans.

“I...p...p-please, p-please please m-may I c-come in...j-just for a m-minute, s-sir…”

“WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU?”

“I...I-I’m S-Sans but…’w...w-wrong universe’...I n...I n-need sh-shelter, s-sir...o-or at l-least clothes...I-I’m w-willing to work for it, s-sir, I’m a v-very h-hard w-worker I p-promise..”

… wrong universe? What?

“I c-can c-clean and c-cook, s-sir, th-three m-meals a d-day a-and more if you n-need it...I c-can earn j-just one outfit...h-however m-much you th-think it’s w-worth you c-can decide, s-sir, I’ll s-stay out of your w-way I p-promise please, s-sir, p-please, I h-have nowhere to g-g-go-o…” Runt hiccups and quickly puts a hand over his mouth before his crying can get out of control. Papy hates crying and he’d guess that this Papyrus hates crying too.

“... WHERE DID YOU COME FROM?”

“M-Mas…” What little intuition Runt has lets him know that calling anybody ‘master’ will somehow make this Papyrus despise him even more. “Th...th-the P-Prinx...th-they t-told me to l-leave or th-they’d k-kill m-me…”

The other Papyrus’s expression darkens.

Runt wraps his arms around his waist, feeling more tears well up. He’d had to try… “...I’m s-sorry s-sir...I’ll go...I’m s-sorry…” He gets to his shaking legs, wondering if Tem exists in this universe...she was always nice to him...maybe she’s still around Waterfall somewhere…

“GET BACK IN HERE BEFORE YOU FREEZE, WHELP.” The larger monster grumbles.

Runt turns around, his eyes widening, “Y...I c...y-you’ll h-help me…?”

“GET INSIDE BEFORE I CHANGE MY MIND.”

Runt rushes inside, falling back to his knees in front of Papyrus as he closes the door and faces him, “ _ Thank you _ , sir, thank you s-so much-!”

“SHUT UP AND STAY OUT OF THE WAY.”

Runt flinches but can't stop the wagging of his stubby tail - he's just so happy to be with Papyrus again, even if it's the wrong one. 

“YOU CAN STAY IN-- IN SANS’S ROOM. THIRD ON THE RIGHT UPSTAIRS.”

“Y-yes sir! I…” He sniffs the air and valiantly keeps a grimace off of his face at the smell of burning pasta, “...w-would you like me to make s-supper for you, s-sir?”

“... IF YOU WANT.” Papyrus stares down at the Not-Sans. Sans never offered to cook.

Smiling, Runt jumps to his feet and rushes into the kitchen, pulling the boiling pasta off the stove and waving a towel at it to cool it off slightly before putting it in the sink, “Wh-what would you like to eat, sir?” 

Papyrus shrugs, walking back into the living room. “DON’T DESTROY MY KITCHEN, WHELP.”

Raspberry nods, looking around through the various cabinets and familiarizing himself with where everything is. Papy never cooked, so back home the kitchen was...well not  _ neater _ . This Papyrus is  _ very  _ neat. But he organizes things differently. And also almost every kitchen utensil seems to be devoted to making different kinds of pasta.

“....s-spaghetti, sir…?” He asks in a timid voice. He hopes he says yes, because looking at the pantry...it doesn’t seem like he’ll be able to make much else.

“THAT’S ALL THAT’S IN THERE.”

“Y-yes sir!” Gosh this Papyrus yells a lot...even when he doesn’t seem to be really...mad? It’s just how he...talks, Runt supposes. Kind of like how the other Sans always seems to mumble. He pulls out a clean pot and fills it with water, setting it on a cooler burner (the one Papyrus had been using seems to be emitting far more heat than should be possible for a stove) and starting it at a gentle boil while he starts to scrub the burnt noodles from the old pot.

It’s a familiar rhythm, cleaning and cooking, and Sans settles into it easily.

Papyrus watches the other silently from the doorway. He remembered his brother’s theories on alternate worlds… but to see something that really couldn’t be anything less than proof of one was  _ strange _ .

...proof that really needs a pair of pants. That stupid tail of its won’t stop wagging. It seems shorter than Sans’s was, actually… What, did that little brat cut it off? He certainly wouldn’t put it past them.

Runt seems to sense his stare and tenses slightly, “...d-did you need s-something, sir?” He asks in a very polite voice that nonetheless shakes in fear.

“WHY IS YOUR TAIL SO SHORT?” Papyrus blurts before he can censor himself.

Runt goes silent for a minute, and then takes a deep breath, “Papy...m-my Papyrus, h-he made me cut it…”

His… Papyrus…

Well it stood to reason that if there was another Sans then there would be another him, but…

Sure, he’d abused Sans. He’d starved him and Fractured him and beat the shit out of him. But he’d never… he'd never removed part of his sibling’s body-- he’d actually taken a small amount of comfort in that upon seeing what that royal  _ brat _ had done to Sans.

“...I-I’m sorry, I..” Runt tugs down the shirt further, trying to hide the marred tail, “...d-do you..do you m-mind if I l-look for some c-clothes here, s-sir? S-so you don’t h-have to look at it…”

“THERE ARE SOME THINGS OF SANS’S IN HIS OLD ROOM. IT’S NOT LIKE HE NEEDS THEM NOW.”

Runt turns down the water so it won’t overheat while he’s gone, turning and facing Papyrus. He bows his head, “Th-thank you, sir…” He murmurs before hurrying up the stairs to the room.

Oh my it’s...really dirty…

Runt shifts his jaw, looking left and right and carefully stepping over the dirty laundry piles on the floor. He opens up the drawers of the dresser, finding exactly one pair of clean shorts and a t-shirt. He takes off the large shirt and pulls the new clothes on quickly. They’re just  _ slightly  _ big on him, but not too much. It’s barely noticeable. He gives a relieved sigh at being fully clothed again and returns downstairs in a hurry, going over to the stove and stirring the now limp noodles into the water.

Stars, it's like looking at his lazy-ass brother back when he wasn't a plaything for a child psychopath. Except a lot more eager to help.

Runt starts quietly humming as he adds in a bit of salt to the water, going to the fridge and finding fresh ingredients for sauce, to his delight, “Y-you make your own sauce too, sir?” 

Papyrus nods wordlessly, staring.

“E-excellent!” Runt happily gathers up the tomatoes and garlic, smiling widely, “M-my Papyrus n-never stocked up like this…” He murmurs.

Papyrus stands there awkwardly for a few moments longer before retreating.

“I...I-I’ll call you wh-when it’s ready, sir…”

“...ALRIGHT.” He turns to go.

...this isn’t quite home, but...it feels closer to it.

At least he’s doing  _ something  _ right, finally. Runt sighs quietly and pulls out a sauce pan. He won’t even be upset if he gets beaten before bed - he’s just so happy to have somewhere to be, now.

 

“Sir? Th-the food is ready!” Runt calls, keeping his voice soft out of habit - Papy usually had had a few at this point, though Runt hasn’t seen this Papyrus drink…

The Other Papyrus wordlessly stands and comes to sit in the kitchen.

Taking Papyrus’s portion (generously much larger than his own), Runt gets to his knees in front of him and presents it timidly, “I h-hope you l-like it, s-sir…”

“Get off the floor, whelp.” The bigger or the pair says in a startlingly quiet voice. He’s wearing an unreadable expression.

Runt swallows and gets back to his feet, “Y-yes sir…”

“Sit down and eat. Eat an actual serving.”

Runt’s eyes widen, “I-if you’re s-sure, sir…” He retreats back to the kitchen, taking his plate and getting a slightly larger portion for himself from the pot. His eyes flit back and forth between the dish and Papyrus, trying to get an idea of if it’s too much.

But Papyrus isn't looking at him, he’s eating. He takes just a bit more and then sets the dish down on the counter, putting some sauce on it and starting to eat, keeping to his promise and staying out of Papyrus’s way.

“THIS IS ACCEPTABLE.”

Finally... _ finally  _ he’s done  _ something  _ right…

Runt quickly wipes at the relieved tears gathering in his sockets, “Th-thank you, s-sir…”

“HOW DID YOU END UP WITH… THE PRINX?”

“I...s-someone t-took me t-to them...I w-was frozen...n-nearly dead...I w-was too s-scared to...t-to ask you f-for help, then...a-all I could think about was...w-was my Papy...P-Papyrus, th-throwing me out…” Runt wipes more persistently at his eyes. “I’m sorry...I d-didn’t think you’d be so kind…”

“YOUR BROTHER THREW YOU OUT?”

“Y-yes sir...h...h-he was a l-little...d-drunk…”

“THAT DOESN’T EXCUSE  _ ANYTHING _ .” 

Runt draws in his shoulders, “Y-yes sir...I-I’m sorry, I-I didn’t mean to a-argue..”

Papyrus rolls his eyes. Even when Sans was at his most infuriating, he’d never have just… kicked him out of the universe. Not that he actually knew how to do that.

Runt eats quickly, relieved to have food in his stomach. He starts quickly on the dishes, putting the steaming pot from earlier aside to dry.

“STAY INSIDE. I DO NOT WANT YOU TO BE SEEN.”

“Y-yes sir...I-I understand...” Runt closes his eyes, sighing quietly as the hot, soapy water stings his cut up hands a bit. It’s so nice to be home...


	5. You Can't Have Nice Things

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just as soon as he got comfortable...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> we overcame writer's block (mostly IA did)  
> praise us

Runt was up a little bit before morning really hit, getting to work on gathering up the laundry around Sans’s room and putting it into a hamper. He snuck into Papyrus’s room (as was his usual method at home) and took what dirty clothes were in there, too - luckily the laundry room was in the same place, even if their rooms were swapped. He starts a load, making sure to put Papyrus’s things in first, and then hurries downstairs to begin on breakfast. Maybe Papyrus will let him go shopping...he only knows a few different ways of cooking pasta…

Normally Papy didn’t get up until early afternoon, and so Runt is startled by the sound of a door opening upstairs. Was he too loud? He’d thought he’d been quiet. “S...s-sir…? I-is that you…?” He calls as quietly as possible.

“WHAT-WHO-oh. Right. WHAT ARE YOU DOING AWAKE?”

“I...I u-usually wake up around..a-around this t-time, s-sir, to get started on the...th-the chores...I-I’m sorry, your...y-your c-clothes are still in the wash…” Runt looks at the still water on the stove...breakfast is barely started, “...I-I’ll wake up earlier n-next time, I’m sorry…”

“NO-- I WASN’T EXPECTING YOU UP UNTIL NOON AT THE EARLIEST. STOP BEING SO… SUBMISSIVE. IT’S FREAKY.”

“...I…” Runt blinks, “I...wasn’t e-expecting  _ you  _ t-to be up u-until noon, s-sir…”

Papyrus stares. Apparently his alternate is even more shameful than he already seemed.

“.................................I’m sorry...y..y-you’re obviously very..v-very different, s-sir, I...I-I’ll t-try to r-remember that…” He turns back around and adds some salt into the now-boiling water.

“SEE THAT YOU DO.” Papyrus shakes the confusion off and grabs his paperwork off of the counter to fill it out. He’d had to stop the night before due to the little whelp’s arrival.

A little more  nervous now that he knows he’s made Papyrus mad, Runt’s hands shake a bit. But he’s used to working with shaky hands.

 

About twenty minutes later, Runt quietly sets down a bowl near Papyrus’s head. He nearly grabs and eats without looking but he notices that it’s...different. It’s not spaghetti. There’s noodles in it, but also carrots and onions…

“It...i-it’s a b-breakfast p-pasta, s-sir…” Runt explains when he notes the skeleton’s confusion.

He eyes the food with some suspicion before tentatively taking a bite. He doubts the brat would poison him.

Runt hangs about listlessly nearby for a few seconds, anxious to hear if Papyrus likes it.

“YOU ARE… STRANGE.”

“...i-is it not g-good, sir? I c-can make s-spaghetti again..”

“IT’S FINE. BUT YOU ARE STRANGE. WHY DO YOU ACT SO DIFFERENT, IF YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE SANS?”

“I...I d-don’t know...wh-why do you act s-so different from m-my Papyrus…?”

“IF I KNEW THE ANSWER TO THAT, I WOULD NOT HAVE ASKED.”

“...y-yes..y-yes of...o-of course, sir...I’m s-sorry, I d...I d-don’t know...a-all Sans s-said w-was that I’m f-from the w-wrong universe...th-that’s all I know, s-sir, I’m sorry..”

“YOU SPOKE TO HIM? HE SPOKE TO  _ YOU _ ?!”

“Y..y-yes sir…”

“... how is he?” Papyrus stares at Runt with a borderline desperate expression.

Runt looks down, shifting his jaw and fidgeting nervously with the hem of his shirt, “He….h-he’s...alive…..”

That sounded… ominous.

“A l...th-the Prinx i-is very nice to h-him...th-they didn’t h-hit him, l-like th-they did w-with me…”

“WHAT  _ AREN’T  _ YOU TELLING ME?”

Runt swallows, “H...h-he’s Sh-Shattered, s-sir…”

Papyrus drops his plate. It falls to the floor and breaks into pieces, but he doesn't so much as flinch as glass flies everywhere. 

Shattered. 

Sans… his infuriating sibling is… 

Just…

**_Gone_ ** . Shattered. 

He can't process it. Sans was  _ always _ there, coming in from that shitty bar at all hours of the day, leaving disgusting messes and dropping bad humor like it was going out of style. Even when the Prinx stole him he was still  _ there _ …

But--

He can't--

**_Shattered_ ** … the word echoes in his mind, over and over like a broken record. Shattered shattered  **_shattered_ ** …

“S...s-sir…?” Runt whispers. Is...is he crying…?

Papyrus bolts. Up the stairs and into his bedroom. The door slams.

Oh no…

..should he not have told………...no. No, Papyrus is Sans’s brother. He deserves to know….

Runt can’t help but wonder if Papy would have a similar reaction if he found out his brother had been Shattered.

He decides not to think about it, and instead gets to work on cleaning up the broken glass pieces scattered around the floor. He cuts himself once or twice but doesn’t even notice. He’s been through far worse at this point...too much, so, to notice some mere cuts.

The house is quiet. What Papyrus is doing in his room, Runt doesn’t know. But he feels awful.

He allows Papyrus to skip lunch, but at supper time he dares to venture upstairs with a plate of spaghetti, knocking quietly on Papyrus’s door, “...sir…?” He calls timidly.

“GO AWAY.”

“Y..y-you should e-eat, sir…”

“I’M FINE.”

“I...I-I’m going to leave this p-plate outside for you, o-okay…?”

Silence.

This is risky. “...S-Sans...h-he wouldn’t w-want you to s-starve yourself, s-sir…” Runt says, voice almost a whisper.

“... just go.”

“...no.”

“leave the food. go away.”

“N-no, sir, I w-won’t leave until I s-see you eat.” Runt sits down on the ground in front of the door stubbornly.

“YOU’RE PLAYING A DANGEROUS GAME, WHELP..”

“I u-understand, s-sir..”

“I WILL EAT. JUST GO. YOU… LOOK TOO MUCH LIKE HIM.”

“...d-do you want me to l-leave your h-home, sir…?” Runt asks in a trembling voice.

“NO. JUST… LEAVE ME BE FOR A WHILE.”

“..I understand sir…” Runt murmurs, getting to his feet, “D...d-do you have a f-first-aid kit, s-sir…?”

“UNDER THE SINK.”

“Th-thank you…” Runt tries to think of what to say, but decides that ‘nothing’ is best, and quietly retreats down the stairs. He has some cuts he needs to fix…

The house is silent for a few hours. Runt heads upstairs to find the empty plate beside the door. He takes it and returns to the sink, glad that at least Papyrus has eaten. He sits down on the couch, out of things to do (this Papyrus keeps things exceptionally clean already) and fiddles with the magic core on his arm. His hand then wanders up to the collar still locked around his neck.

Frowning, he begins feeling around for the latch. He should probably take this o-

_ “AAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!”  _

If not for the core, Runt’s HP would have plummeted far past zero at the punishment shock that’s immediately administered upon his trying to remove the collar.

There’s a slam from upstairs, and Papyrus vaults over the edge of the banister.

“H-help m-me!” Runt cries as the shocks continue, collapsing onto the floor and off the couch, “P-please!”

“STOP TOUCHING IT. SUBMIT. GO LIMP.” 

Runt obeys, dropping his arms from the collar and lying as though dead on the floor, trembling violently.

With a  _ beep _ , the shocking ends. Runt gasps in air, panting, “H..h-how did you kn-know…?”

“I WAS CAPTAIN OF THE ROYAL GUARD. THOSE ARE EXTREMELY COMMON IN THAT PARTICULARLY LINE OF WORK.”

Runt opens his eyes, staring at him with eyelights that turn starry, “Y..y-you were in the royal guard?” He whispers.

“FOR A WHILE. I RESIGNED.”

“...that’s s-so cool…” Runt whispers, even quieter, looking at Papyrus with a renewed sense of awe.

“...” He stands and turns to leave.

“Th..th-thank you, s-sir…”

“don't touch it again.”

“I u-understand, s-sir, th-thank you…”

He walks up the stairs without another word. 

  
  


Chara prods Sans tentatively, but he doesn't even look at them. They frown and poke a little harder, and dim eyelights sluggishly move to look at them, but there's still no response. 

Of course not. The stupid Runt had him talking, though. They were certain of it. 

Why else would he say ‘Chara lies’?”

Never mind the  _ other _ thing, which, while they knew it was true from the beginning (stars, they’d even planned it to  _ be that way _ ) it still somehow stung to hear it aloud. 

_ Did you love them? _

**No** .

For fuck’s sake it had been part of the game at first, to force him to pretend to love them. But they had grown accursedly  _ attached _ to his broken little mind, to the desperate cuddles and happy purrs. They'd known it was fake. They'd  _ known _ . 

“I don't understand… I did everything  _ right _ . How did things turn out like this?” 

Sans, as always, is silent. Chara sighs but patiently slips the spoon between his slightly-parted teeth. If they could do it all again… what would they do? If they had a chance to fix this mess and try again… 

Well, Runt _was_ technically another chance. But he was just too _different_ from the Sans they knew… But it stood to reason that if there _were_ other dimensions with other Sanses, there was probably at least _one_ out there with a similar Sans, right?

Maybe Alphys’s replacement would be able to look into it… They maybe should possibly call her. If they can work up the motivation. Also that monster creeps them out. That wide smile she’d given when they’d dusted Alphys...she’d made no move to stop them or take revenge. She’d just let them go on their merry way. Something obviously isn’t right with her.

...though they...suppose if they did find a new Sans, then...did that mean they’d be getting rid of this one? The thought… upsets them. Why are they so  _ attached  _ to this empty shell? It went beyond having promised to take good care of him.

...they want  _ this  _ Sans back. This one. Even if they found one exactly like he’d been, they’d probably still hate it.

But even in the impossible circumstances of  _ this _ Sans coming back, they'd be back at square one. He'd hate them.  _ Hate  _ them. Frisk was gone, they were sure of it, and he would blame  _ them _ . Chara absently pets the husk as they stare at the wall.

The only thing that can get this Sans to react, though, is that...stupid  _ Runt _ ...maybe seeing another version of himself is just jarring enough to get him to respond. Or maybe the Runt had some sort of trick for talking to him.

They shouldn't have been so hasty in kicking him out. They're  having trouble finding the motivation to get up and find him. Chara sighs and feeds the husk of Sansy another spoonful of stew. They  _ should  _ get up. At the very least they can find someone who  _ is  _ willing to track him down for them. Daddy, probably, could find someone to do it. They could tell him Runt ran away, he’d send somebody… 

...yeah. They’ll do that. Have the little brat brought in so they can interrogate him over what he did to make Sansy talk, at the very least. And then they can go back to ignoring him. It’s at least convenient to have something punchable nearby whenever their depression spirals into fits of anger. They don’t even have to feed it, with that core on its arm. It probably won’t be too much trouble to bring back - where could it have possibly found to go?

 

Runt sits up from polishing Papyrus’s boots at the front door as Papyrus descends the stairs - he’s adjusted his schedule appropriately so that he’s up at least two hours before Papyrus is. It’s been a couple days, now, since Runt told him about Sans being Shattered. The taller skeleton hasn’t quite ‘recovered’, but he’s stopped locking himself away in his room.

Through tentative conversation at meal times, Runt has discovered that Papyrus has taken up his old position of sentry, to keep paying the bills. He simply refuses to join the royal guard again. Runt hopes to someday get some stories out of him...joining the guard...it’s something he’d wanted to do since he was a babybones. Papy was right in telling him that he was too pathetically weak and soft to do so, but he still secretly dreams…

“...g-good morning, sir…” Runt offers in a timid voice as he gets to his feet, making sure he didn’t leave polish anywhere as he backs away, hurrying towards the kitchen. The eggs should be done by now. Papyrus has been kind enough to shop for some food items besides spaghetti noodles and sauce ingredients, at this point.

To Runt’s confusion, Papyrus had often been standing over his shoulder while he cooked, at least in the evenings. It was nerve-wracking at first, but then the questions had started-- “WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH THAT WHITE POWDER?” “WHY MIX IT THAT WAY?” And other innocent queries. It seemed this Papyrus actually  _ enjoyed _ cooking, he just… didn't know  _ how _ .

Once Runt understood this, he’d been happy to give Papyrus answers, in a significantly less stammered and terrified voice. “I-it’s called salt, Sir, i-it’s used for seasoning.” “It gets rid of b-batter balls, Sir…”

So things had been calm in general, really. It was… nice. Even if Papyrus sometimes looked like he was barely holding back tears… Even if Runt was sure him being here didn't make losing  _ his _ Sans any easier… Things were alright.

He hears Papyrus enter the kitchen, and clears his throat gently, “W...w-would you like to m-maybe h-help me finish c-cooking breakfast t-today, sir…?”

“IF I WILL NOT BE IN THE WA-” His positive response is cut off by a knock on the front door.

“....a..a-are you e-expecting s-someone, s-sir…?”

“NO. NO I AM NOT.” His brow furrows.

Runt hurriedly moves the eggs off the burner and begins plating them, keeping one eye on the door, “W-would you like m-me to get it…?”

“GO UPSTAIRS. INTO SANS’S ROOM. I DO NOT WANT YOU SEEN.” Papyrus takes the second plate of eggs and sticks it into the oven.

“Y-yes sir…” Runt shuts off the stove and hurries up the stairs, closing the door silently and holding the side of  his skull against it to listen.

The knocking is growing more insistent. “I’M COMING, I’M COMING, I HAD FOOD ON THE STOVE!” Papyrus snaps, stomping up and throwing the door open.

He’s greeted with the sight of a royal guard, in full uniform. “I have been sent to retrieve the Prinx’s pet. His collar’s tracker shows that he is at this location. Surrender him peacefully, sentry.”

_ Shit _ . There was no ambiguity there, he knew exactly who they meant. The whole fucking reason he’d taken the little lookalike in was because he’d mentioned-  _ shit _ .

Runt gives a terrified squeak and hunches over, putting a hand over his mouth as his eyes widen, eyelights shrinking. No...no, no please, he can’t go back, he doesn’t  _ want  _ to, it’s so nice here…

He closes his eyes, trembling as he listens to Papyrus’s response.

“I am to understand that they threw him out.” The deep voice says lowly. Runt thinks he sounds angry…

“According to King Asgore, he ran away. Surrender him, sentry.”

Runt’s eyes widen and he shakes his head. He didn't run away!

There's a brief silence. “I will need a moment.”

Runt shrinks to his seat on the floor, curling up and hugging his legs tightly, mouthing ‘no’ over and over. No...no, not when he’d just started to feel happy again...please…

He closes his eyes, crying quietly. It’s not  _ fair _ …

But can he really ask Papyrus to get into trouble over him? Of  _ course _ he’s going to hand him over…why shouldn’t he?

Dragging himself to his feet, Runt gets out the shirt he’d stolen from the castle last week when he’d left. He holds it in his arms and stands with his head bowed in the center of the room as he hears Papyrus climbing the stairs, waiting to be given up.

The door opens. “ARE YOU… WERE YOU LISTENING?”

Runt nods, looking ashamed, “Y-yes sir…”

“DID YOU LIE TO ME?”

“A-about wh...about b-being th-thrown out…?”

“YES.”

Runt shakes his head, “N-no, n-no sir, I w-would n-never l-lie, e-especially n-not to a P-Papyrus, s-sir…”

Papyrus nods. “... thank you.” He gestures to the doorway. “I am afraid I don't have the ability to tell them where to shove it. I am… sorry. Thank you.”

Runt gulps, and then rushes forward, wrapping his arms around Papyrus and bracing himself to be struck for it, “Th-thank you, s-sir, f-for t-taking m-me in...th-thank you so much...I c-can’t...I c-can’t s-say it enough...y-you’ve b-been...th-thank you..I’m s-sorry…” He clings tighter, sobbing against Papyrus’s chest.

Papyrus awkwardly pats him on the head. “Can you… Tell my brother I'm sorry…” Not that Sans would understand or care if he really is Shattered… but… it's the only thing he can do.

“HURRY IT UP IN THERE OR I’M BREAKING DOWN THE DOOR!”

Runt gives a strangled cry, pulling back and quickly wiping his eyes as he nods at Papyrus, “Y-yes sir..i-it’s the l-least I c-can do.” He takes a deep breath and moves out the door, heading down the stairs and hurriedly stuffing his feet into a spare pair of sneakers that Papyrus had brought out of storage. They were slightly smaller than Sans’s feet but fit Runt perfectly.

He barely gets the laces knotted before the door gives a threatening jerk. Runt opens it hurriedly, and immediately his collar is grabbed. He chokes as he’s dragged out the door by it, stumbling into the snow. His eyes stay fixated on the familiar but alien Snowdin home as he’s dragged away.

Even though he tries his best, he can’t stop the tears from falling as he’s taken away to the Riverperson. So close to home, and yet so far...and now even farther.


	6. Useful After All

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ah. So the Runt has a use for something.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OC warning

Chara lays on their bed, staring at the glow in the dark stars. They aren't thinking, for once, and it doesn't hurt. They don't hurt. It's okay. Not great, but okay. 

There's a knock on the door. “Your Highness, your pet has been found. Permission to enter and return it?”

“Yeah, sure.” Whatever.

They expected the door to open, and for some half-dead, starved, sobbing, and miserable lump to get tossed in. They sure as hell didn’t expect the Runt to reenter looking healthy, standing on his own two legs, and  _ wearing Sans’s clothes that’s for fucking sure _ .

The mystery of who would take in a pathetic waste of time and effort like that is easily solved, and Chara feels like they should've seen it coming. After all, it was well-known that Papyrus kept  _ their _ Sans even though  _ he  _ was a worthless waste of time and effort.

The door shuts and Chara sits up, slowly raising an eyebrow at the Runt.

He fidgets restlessly with his hands, keeping his head down as his knees knock together.

“Welcome back. How was Papyrus~?”

“...h...h-he’s d-doing f-fine, M-Master…”

“Shame, that. Maybe I should send him some pictures of Sansy, that might darken his day…” But that’s a plan for another time, when they're actually in the mood to be petty. “Come here,  _ Runt _ .”

He flinches at the title, his head dropping lower as he walks over to them. Chara snags him by the collar and yanks him closer. 

“I want to know how the  _ fuck _ you were getting my Sansy to react.”

Runt gives a frightened whimper as he stumbles to his knees, “Y...y-you m-mean t-t-to t-talk..?”

“Getting him to tell me ‘yes’ or ‘no’ is  _ easy _ , even  _ you _ figured it out, stupid mutt. But you actually had him  _ talking _ for a minute.”

Runt swallows, “I...I-I don’t know…”

“ ** _What do you_** mean **_you don’t know?!_** ”

Runt gasps, shutting his eyes against the terrifying sight of his Master’s angry face, “I-I d-don’t know wh-what I d-did! I w-would j-just talk t-to him a-a-and he w-would s-sometimes s-say m-more!”

“For fuck’s sake…” Chara grumbles.  _ Of course  _ it was that. Sansy had never made anything easy for them before.

Runt hugs himself tightly around the waist as he waits for Chara to decide what to do with him. “...I...m-may I t-talk to him, p-please, M-Master…?”

“Why?!”

Oh stars he just wants to say ‘nevermind’ and go hide in the corner but he  _ has  _ to do this. “I...I h-have a m-message for him..”

“What, does Papyrus still not know his brother is  _ Shattered _ ?”

“H..h-he knows...I-I told h-him…”

“ _ Then what’s the fucking point? _ ” Chara flops back onto their bed. “Go ahead. I don't give a fuck.”

Runt scrambles over to the closet, opening it slowly and carefully, “..h-hello? S-Sans…?”

The skeleton raises his head and blinks at Runt.

Runt forces a smile, “H-hello...d-do you remember me? P-please answer…” 

“yes.”

Runt gets to his knees next to the skeleton, cautiously taking his mangled hand and stroking it, “I...I h-have something to t-tell you...P-Papyrus asked me to...t-to tell you h-he’s sorry…” He lowers his eyes, sniffing, “I..I kn-know you don’t...c-care, anymore, but...h-he was r-really nice to me, y-your brother...h-he took me in...a-and g-gave me c-clothes a-and a place to sleep...h-he let me e-eat...he r-really likes c-cooking, d-did you know? P-please answer…”

“yes.”

“I tried to...t-to teach him...I w-was going to m-maybe offer to...to g-give him some l-lessons, but th..th-then…” Runt swallows and lays next to Sans, sniffing and burying his face in the other’s jacket, “...h-he’s really s-sorry, S-Sans... _ I-I’m  _ sorry...I kn-know he’s your b-brother but I w-wish he w-was mine, t-too…”

Sans’s dimmed eyelights are focused on the Runt. The other Sans who wants his Papyrus. His Papyrus is sorry. Really sorry.

“H...h-he misses you...h-he m-misses you a l-lot...h-he nearly c-cried, wh-when I told him...sh-shut himself in h-his room a-all day...a-and then some…” Runt sniffs, stroking Sans’s head, “...h-he was n-nice to m-me but I c-could tell he w-wanted you...I d-don’t blame him...I w-wish I could g-give you back...I r-really do…”

Sans leans into the touch, slightly. Papyrus crying? No, never. Never happened. But the Runt is cuddly and naive. Too innocent to lie.

“I’m s-so sorry...I’m so sorry…”

Runt is too upset to deal with right now. Sans doesn't want to care. He doesn't care anymore. It no longer matters. 

 

Chara can’t hear Sans talking, so they can only assume he wound up reacting the same as he always did to Runt’s tearful confession. They pick up their phone and dig through it for the Royal Scientist's phone number. They're willing to at least look into other worlds…

 

_ ‘Afternoon, your Highness. This is Falena. How may I be of assistance?’ _

Ugh. She texts in perfect grammar. This is going to be tedious.

‘ _ Wat do u know abt parallel worlds?’ _ Chara hammers out. This old phone is so annoying…they never DID have Alphys upgrade it like usual. Mostly because they killed her.

_ ‘Interesting question. Why do you ask it?’ _

‘ _ My new pet seems 2 b from 1 _ ’

_ ‘Oh really? You mean Sans, correct?’ _

‘ _ Yes’ _

_ ‘I would be able to confirm this for sure if this copy was brought in. But I will need time to prepare the tests.’ _

‘ _ Wud I need 2 bring Sansy 2?’ _

_ ‘Not necessary to confirm that your copy is, indeed, a copy. But I WOULD love to see a Shattered monster :) It’s been some time…’ _

‘ _ O rlly?’  _ Interesting…

_ ‘And to see Sans in a Shattered state especially…’ _

‘ _ Keep your hands off him and Ill bring him’  _ They don't know what her deal is, but it's vaguely creepy. 

‘ _ LOL :) oh fine then. Do gloves count? _ ’

‘ _ No tests on my puppy without permission. _ ’

_ ‘How protective. Cute :) give me 24 hours to have the tests prepared.’ _

_ ‘K’ _ Chara sits back and sighs. Twenty-four hours before they have to be anywhere…

...what are they going to do with this whimpering Runt in the meantime? He’s useless until then. And they don't want to leave him in the closet with Sansy for too long. Who knows what he might do.

They don’t want to have to feed him either. With that magic core it’d just be a waste anyway.

Whatever. They flop back down and roll over. Until their next lessons there’s nothing to do, so they may as well do nothing.

 

Chara stomps into their bedroom. Today had just been awful. After the same boring lessons as usual, Asgore had scolded them for letting their new dog run away. The stupid Runt shouldn’t have had the nerve to leave the castle in the first place... _ and  _ he’d informed them that the pet had had the nerve to steal from one of the laundry baskets on his way out. Granted, he’d returned it, but still.

The long lecture they got about their lack of proper training of their pets...he’d even threatened to take both of them away if they couldn’t prove their responsibility. That Runt...his disobedience is threatening their permission to have even  _ Sans _ …

Well if Daddy wanted  _ discipline _ …

“ **Runt** !”

The small skeleton falls over himself scrambling out of the closet, his eyes prematurely wide with fear as he gets himself onto his knees and looks up at them, “Y-yes…?”

Chara doesn't say another word, just lashes out with a kick aimed straight at the little brat’s skull. Runt shrieks as he’s knocked over, holding his head and curling up, trembling. His face is hidden by his arms, and for a second, in Sans’s clothing...that t-shirt and shorts...he looks...he looks  _ exactly  _ like...like…

Chara growls.  _ It’s not him _ ! It's a stupid, fake  **copy** !

“M-Master p-p-ple-ease…” Runt sobs, “Wh-what did I d-do w-w-wrong..?!”

“You  **_aren’t_ ** Sansy!” They yell, slamming another kick home.

He screams again, “I’m s-sorry?! I’m  _ sorry _ I-I’m n-not trying t-t-to b-be!”

Chara doesn't grace that with a response, instead continuing to beat the little brat until the alarm on their phone goes off, informing them it's time to leave. Runt’s screaming has died down to weak whimpers, and all he can do now is flinch away from them when they come near again.

They toss him a towel. “Get some of that blood cleaned up and go wait by the door.” Chara doesn't look at him again, instead heading over to the closet.

Runt hiccups, sobbing quietly as he pushes himself to his knees and starts wiping up the marrow from the floor and from his bones. What’d he do wrong...he wants to go back to Papyrus...Papyrus never hit him...even if he had, he would have known exactly what he’d done to deserve it. But he’s not there, he’s  _ here _ , and there’s no way out.

He finishes cleaning and sits by the door, trembling and looking down at the clothes covering him. The shirt is all scuffed up, now...what will he say if he sees Papyrus? These clothes aren’t his and he got them ruined…

Chara comes back over with the leash, carrying Sans. They bend down briefly to attach it to his collar and tug him out the door without a word. He follows on his hands and knees, struggling to keep up.

It's a long walk to Hotland, but it's not worth going to the Riverperson. Chara walks, adjusting Sans’s slight weight in their arms and half-dragging Runt.

 

They barely recognize the LAB when they enter it. It looks...tidy. No messes of instant noodle bowls laying around. Every screen is dedicated to important cameras across the Underground, without a hint of anime in any of them. The lab tables are covered in lab equipment, and the humming on the first floor is no longer that of the ice cream machine but of...well. Chara isn’t sure what that machine is. But they’re certain it probably doesn’t make ice cream.

Chara eyes the jar of dust on display in the corner of the room - it’s being presented more like a trophy than a funeral urn. It’s unnerving. Is that Alphys? Creepy.

The green lizard sweeps into the room after Chara enters, grinning widely, “Afternoon, your Highness. What an honor to see you again.”

Chara nods. “I like what you've done with the place. There’s actual  _ work _ happening.” Not that Alphys's  _ didn’t _ work, but the creepy experiments in the basement  **_did not count_ ** . Chara tries not to think about how close Frisk came to joining them.

“Of course.” Falena’s sharp-toothed smile gets wider, “I do  _ try  _ to be productive...now that you’ve gotten that lazy, lying excuse for a scientist out of my way,  _ progress  _ can happen! Isn’t it delightful?”

Chara nods again. “Indeed. And you were going to look over my Runt, right?”

“Correct.” Falena steps to the side and looks at the trembling mess trying to hide behind Chara, “This is him?” She approaches, yellow eyes gleaming as her slitted pupils expand, “I am allowed to touch  _ this one _ , correct?”

“Do what you need to, yes.” Chara’s grip on Sans tightens slightly. “Forgive me, but I  _ did _ see some of what your predecessor got up to in her  _ free time _ , and I am afraid I'm a little too attached to Sansy to place him in that kind of danger, Shattered or not.”

Falena steps a bit closer to Chara, grin widening as she runs her eyes over the Shattered form in their arms, “...delightful...absolutely delightful...how  _ perfect _ …” She takes a deep breath, as if to compose herself, and then looks back up at Chara, “No need to worry about those monstrosities. They have been…..taken care of.” She grabs Runt’s leash and yanks him closer, crouching down and grabbing him  by the collar. “No thrashing.” She warns him, “I won’t hesitate to use my venom on you if need be. I promise it is  _ not  _ pleasant.”

Runt trembles as he looks at her, and she looks at him. Her claw traces the scar on his eye and he whimpers, the sound seeming to stretch her grin ever wider.

“Fascinating...absolutely  _ fascinating _ ...1HP...you have no LV at  _ all _ ...you pathetic little creature...how are you even alive? Miserable. Thrilling, however, to see a specimen like this.” She stands up and drags him along with her. “Seeing as how your Highness was kind enough to bring Sans along, I designed a test to compare the two. Similarities are different than being  _ identical _ ...and while clearly these two are not perfect copies, DNA says much more than personality can, wouldn’t you agree, Highness?”

Chara nods. They aren't exactly science-minded, but even they’ve heard of DNA.

“SOUL mapping is also a viable option, and it would not require me to draw marrow.” Falena raises an eyebrow at them as she sets Runt down on one table, strapping him in tightly.

“Would you even be able to do that to Sansy?”

“Of course. A Shattered SOUL can't get anymore damaged anyway, human. It will be more challenging, certainly, but hardly impossible.”

“Do whichever you prefer, I suppose.” Chara shrugs, setting Sans beside Runt. “Stay put, okay sweetie?”

“It  _ will  _ require me to touch him.” Falena reminds, doing her best not to roll her eyes.

“What you need to do.” Chara reiterates, eyes hardening. “Sarcasm is unappreciated, my dear.”

“Hardly sarcasm, dear Prinx. I’m just making sure you won’t dust me because you’re not expecting me to lay a hand on your darling pet.” Falena croons, bracing a gloved hand over Sans’s chest and drawing out his SOUL. She admires the dark grey SOUL, “Oh, how beautiful…” She purrs, eyes widening, “How ethereal.” She observes the cloudy, almost transparent SOUL for another moment before taking it over to a tubular machine and placing the heart inside. “This will  _ not  _ hurt him.” She repeats, attaching wires to the SOUL, “Not that he can even notice pain anymore.” She murmurs under her breath.

“Yes, I know.” Chara sighs, leaning against the table.

Falena’s tail swishes idly as she finishes hooking up Sans’s SOUL, returning to the Runt once finished and drawing out his SOUL next. He squeezes his eyes shut, trying to breathe deeply as her cold, calculated hands touch the fragile heart.

She can’t help but pause and stare. “....odd….his SOUL is much lighter than a normal monsters’.” She glances back at Chara, “...one could almost call it ‘pure’.”

Chara starts, briefly recalling a similar discussion that they hadn't been  _ present  _ for. 

_ “I-I’ve never seen anything like it, Sans. Their SOUL is… M-much more… saturated, for lack of a better term, th-than any other human SOUL I've looked at! I've seen dozens of Red SOULS over the last month, and all of them were practically pink in c-comparison!” _

_ “Is… it going to cause me issues?” Frisk worriedly asked, clinging to Sans’s hand like a lifeline. _

_ “N-not if it h-hasn't already…” Alphys's assured. “But it's strange… almost… purer… than the other SOULS I've looked at…”  _

 

Chara shakes off the flashback. “Interesting.”

“...hmm. I would love to study it more. But...well. Time isn’t patient, is it?” Neither was the Prinx, from what she heard. Falena hooks up the SOUL as well and encases it inside a similar clear capsule, going to the computer between the two SOULS and beginning to type.

Chara closes their eyes. Perhaps that was how Alphys had eventually discovered the RESET ability.

The large monitor displays two images of SOULS, along with multiple numbers and lines of data that Chara can’t decipher. Falena gives a surprised hum, taking half a step back and looking over the image. “Fascinating...absolutely incredible…”

“Care to share with the class?”

Falena chuckles, “Ah, yes. SOULS are mostly made up of memories, as I’m sure you know, Prinx. They function in a way that’s similar to brains.” She glances over her shoulder, “...humans have brains, correct? The physical organ? I’ve never had a chance to...biopsy one…” She looks over them with a curious hunger in her eyes, “...so pardon my ignorance.”

“Yes, humans have brains. No, you cannot look at mine. I still need it.”

She laughs lightly, although she looks a bit disappointed. “Ah, shame. At any rate. What distinguishes physical brains from one another is memories, but also individual DNA. SOULS don’t have DNA, but...well. This is hardly the place for a science lecture, is it?” Falena shakes her head, “I digress. These two SOULS, while in terms of memories, are vastly different, they are composed of identical ‘SOUL DNA’, if you will. Even twin monsters don’t show this much similarity. These two monsters are, in fact, the same, in spite of being so different. Absolutely astonishing…” Falena strokes her chin, tail swishing faster in her excitement, “It’s a shame you aren’t alive, Sans, to share your knowledge of parallel universes. I’m sure it would be enlightening.”

“So you wouldn't know how to get into another world, then?” So much for that plan.

“What would you need to do that for?” Falena questions. She knows why  _ she  _ would need to - in order to find new specimens without king Asgore berating her for decimating the population of the  Underground. But what does this human child want with alternate universes?

“I was hoping to find one more… similar.”

Falena’s eyebrow twitches up in understanding, “You want a replacement.”

“Yes.” There's no point denying it.

Falena nods, “Why have a copy when you can just have the same one?” She asks, typing in more things on the computer, “You've heard of organ transplants, yes?”

“You can fix him?!”

“I don't see why I couldn't. Not with a donor that matches so perfectly.”

“You fix him, and I'll convince Daddy to double your funding.”

Falena chuckles, “How eager...adorable. Very well. This copy doesn't mean much to you, of course, I take it?”

“Nope~.”

“Good. I believe I can revive Sans by swapping the state of their SOULS. So his SOUL will be merely Fractured, and the copy instead will be Shattered.”

“I'll probably have to Split him again to cow him into obeying..” Chara mutters. “That won't cause complications, will it? Because otherwise he’ll probably attack me.” 

“You'll Split the copy now, then?” Falena’s eyebrow lifts.

“Will that work?”

“It will make things more difficult.” Falena mutters, tail twitching, “But it's your pet. Depending on what his emotional state was before he was Shattered, he may just break again at the moment of transfer.”

“Okay… I think we should wait until, after, then… will the Bonder transfer to Runt or stay on Sansy?” 

“Bonder? Is that what this is?” Falena asks as she takes out Sans’s SOUL from the machine, inspecting the red thread, “I'm not sure. I would need to study the properties of it more thoroughly.”

Chara produces the book from their inventory. “Would this help?”

Falena takes it, thumbing through, “...hm. Yes...possibly...if it's thorough enough.”

“If you don't mind, I can stay overnight. That should give you time to ensure there are no complications…”

Falena looks up at them, “You expect me to be ready to perform a SOUL transplant overnight?”

“You can’t? Keep in mind I'm in like middle school. I don't know how this works.”

“If you want this done correctly, it will take time. A lot of time. A week at the least.”

“Will you need them both here?”

“Yes, at the time of transfer. Until then I need to build the machine itself.”

Chara nods slowly. “I will return in a week. I will expect answers to the questions I have posed today.”

“Very well.” Falena waves them off, unstrapping Runt from the bed and shoving him towards Chara. His legs give out and he falls to his knees in front of them, shaking badly. “I have much work to do, now. Kindly leave me be.”

Chara nods sharply and grabs his leash, hefting Sans in their other arm. They make a prompt exit. They’re going to be busy themselves, forming a plan to keep Sans under their control once he’s restored.

 

Runt says nothing on the way home. He keeps up as best he can, completely deaf to the jeers of passers-by as Chara drags him on the leash. He’s not the smartest monster to exist but he understood that conversation well enough.

...he’s going to be Shattered...that lady is going to take his SOUL and Sans’s SOUL and switch them. Somehow. And he’s going to be  _ Shattered _ …

And Chara hadn't even hesitated to agree. Not that he’s surprised about that. Why shouldn’t they?

They reach the room and Runt is tossed forward. He crawls over to the rug and lays down, burying his face in his arms and sobbing. He doesn’t want to Shatter...it’s like dying but it goes  _ on _ ...he doesn’t want to Shatter…

He looks up and watches Chara putting Sans back in his bed in the closet, sniffing and trying to blink away the tears. “...M..M-Master wh-what are you g-going to do w-with me wh-when I’m Sh-Shattered…?”

Chara shrugs.

“...are y-you going to k-kill me?”

“I dunno. Haven't thought that far ahead. Why?”

“Wh-why  _ wouldn’t  _ you..y-you already h-hate m-me now...I’m a-already  _ useless  _ n-now...why w-would you k-keep me alive if I’m Sh-Shattered…?”

“I don't honestly care.” Chara shrugs again, grabbing a notebook and scribbling ‘ _ 1\. Magic restriction collar in case the Bonder doesn't stay put’ _ as they sit on their bed. “Maybe I'll just shove you in the closet and forget about you.”

Runt starts to tremble all over again, sobbing and grabbing up the rug like a security blanket again. He wants to go home...he wants to go  _ home _ ...why can’t he just go home…

“...w..w-will you l-let him s-see Papyrus…?”

Chara blinks at him, honestly confused.

“Wh..wh-when Sans is a-all better, w-will you l-let him s-see Papyrus?”

“Why would I do that?” They don't sound scornful, just… bemused. They literally cannot see the advantage, and thus can't think of a reason.

“Th-then what are you g-going to  _ d-do  _ to h-him? H-hurt him ag-gain? Wh-what did he d-do to you?”

Chara tilts their head, staring at Sans. “Does it matter? I don't understand…”

“Y..y-you Shattered h-him...wh-why not just...j-just let him g-go after b-bringing him b-back? I-it’s the least you could d-do for him..”

Chara narrows their eyes. “He’s  _ mine _ . And if I let him go, he'd die out there anyway.”

“P-Papyrus will t-take care of him...th-they’re brothers…”

“ **_He’s mine_ ** .

“T-treating him l-like a-an animal is...i-it’s w-wrong, M-Master…”

“Don't you get it? I don't fucking care! All I fucking want is my puppy back!”

“L-look at him...l-look what you d-did to him!”

“ **_He begged me to s h a t t e r h i m! And in the end, I wasn't even the one who did it_ ** !”

“You m-made him w-want to be Sh-Shattered! Y-you t-took away e-everything until th-there was n-nothing left!”

Chara’s grin is savage. “That's right. That’s exactly what I did. I took one of the strongest monsters in the underground and turned him into a desperate to please lapdog with almost no fucking effort. And it was  _ amazing _ . I don't give a shit what you think,  **_Runt_ ** . In a week, you won't be thinking at all.”

“Y-you’re h-heartless…” Runt whispers, clutching his legs to his chest and trembling, “Y-you’re...I d-don’t know wh-what you are...h-how can you p-pretend to c-care about him?”

Chara laughs. They don't grace him with a response. He'd never understand. They barely understand themself.

“ _ Answer me _ !” Runt shrieks, slamming his fists into the ground and sitting forward, “ _ I-if you’re g-going to t-take everything I have the least y-you can do is answer me _ !”

“You’d never understand. You don't  _ remember.” _ And without remembering the resets, he has no real way of comprehending just how  _ lonely _ it is when you can live forever-- But nobody knows it. Even when you're mortal enemies, there’s a certain camaraderie that comes with being the only two  _ real _ people in the world. The only two that can't be erased with the press of a button, that can't be set back to zero. It's why they chose Sans in the very first place.

“Y-you’re cruel...y-you’re p-pointlessly c-cruel..”

“Of course I am.”

“Wh-why can’t you b-be kind..?”

“Because in this world, it’s Kill or  _ be killed _ , Runt.”

“Y-you’re s-strong enough to b-be different…”

“I'm strong because I chose to be the  _ killer _ .” They shake their head. “There’s only one person strong enough and willing enough to be kind in this hellhole, and they're  **_gone_ ** . They Shattered my pet and then fucked off, never to be seen again.”

“You...i-if you really c-care for him th-then...th-then j-just let him  _ go _ ...f-forcing him to b-be a pet i-is only g-going to make him hate you more..”

“He couldn't possibly hate me more.” They were indirectly the reason Frisk was gone, after all. No doubt he would ignore his own part and Frisk’s part and place all the blame squarely on Chara’s shoulders.

“So y-you’ll  _ keep  _ him? K-keep s-someone that h-hates you as your  _ dog  _ a-and break him a-all over again?!”

“If I must.” Chara shrugs. “It's all part of the game.”

“Th-this isn’t a  _ game _ ...h-he’s not a toy...h-he’s somebody’s brother...h-he deserves to b-be treated like a p-person...wh-why are...why are you so  _ selfish _ ?!”

“Because I can be.” Chara smirks. “Because I can do whatever I want without having to worry about consequences.”

“Then wh-why is he b-broken...y-you’re just going to do it again...wh-what’s the  _ point _ …?!”

“... I will be more careful this time.” Chara says softly. “His SOUL is the only thing I cannot fix if I break it. But I know what not to do now. And if I should screw up… I'll just track down another Sans and do it all again.” They’ll make certain Asgore channels Falena down the path of opening ways into other worlds. The freaky lizard would be happy with a glut of new test subjects, Daddy would be happy with new lands to conquer and rule with an iron fist, and Chara would have as many tries as they needed to make their pet perfect.

“...y-you’re horrible..y-you’re the most h-horrible th-thing I’ve e-ever met…” Runt crawls away from them, hiding in the far corner and curling up tightly.

How can one person hold so much cruelty and selfishness?

 

Chara smirks at him and goes back to their list. It doesn't matter what he thinks. He’s only there so they can have Sansy back.

 

“...I’m so sorry…”

Sans opens his eyes to see the Runt sitting over him, tears dripping from his too-wide sockets.

“I’m so s-sorry...y-you get to c-come back but o-only to b-break again...I t..I t-tried to be brave...I t-tried to t-tell them to at...a-at least l-let you go, a-after fixing you...b-but they wouldn’t...they wouldn’t  _ listen  _ I’m  _ sorry _ …” Runt puts a hand over his mouth, looking over his shoulder cautiously at the sleeping child.

Break again? ...fine. It hurt but what does hurt matter to him anymore.

“...y-you..I d-don’t know if you..if y-you’ll miss your brother, o-or not..” Runt gets inside the closet with Sans, curling up next to him and tucking his head against his chest, “...I-I’ll miss mine...t-tell him...i-if you e-ever see him, p-please t-tell him I’m..th-that I’m s-sorry, b-but also that...th-that I forgive him...a-and I’ll miss him…” He muffles his sobs into Sans’s shirt, “...I d-don’t want to Sh-Shatter, S-Sans...I w-want to go home...b-but I can’t…” He hiccups, “...c-can I get u-under the blanket too, p-please, S-Sans?”

Sans says and does nothing, at first. But then his arm moves and he drapes the charmed blanket over both of them. Runt huddles in closer, whimpering. “Th-thank you...y-you’re so k-kind to me...e-even though y-you’re Sh-Shattered…”

“hm.”

“I...I d-don’t know wh-what you’re r-really like..I g-guess I’ll f-find out, once...o-once  _ I’m  _ Sh-Shattered...I’m s-sorry I w-won’t be able to..t-to p-properly s-say hello t-to you…” Runt takes in a deep breath, clutching Sans’s jacket and using it to pull himself in even tighter, “...s-so I g-guess I’ll s-say it n-now..a-and wh-when you’re b-back you c-can just remember...h-hello, S-Sans...i-it’s nice to...t-to meet you...p-please be n-nice to your brother, f-for me...h-he didn’t have to b-be so kind, b-but he was...t-tell him I’m s-sorry I w-was too scared to o-offer to t-teach him to cook...a-and that I w-was planning on it...t-tell him I’m s-sure he’ll b-be a g-great cook…”

Sans’s eye twitches as he watches the ceiling of the closet, absorbing every word.

“...a-and if you s-see my brother again, t..t-tell him...w-well th-that...th-that I f-forgive him, a-and I’m sorry, a-and all that, b-but...b-but that I h-hope h-he’ll be okay...a-and that I d-don’t mind i-if he decides to d-dust me...I d-don’t expect him to c-care for a Sh-Shattered SOUL l-like me...b-but if he does d-decide to th-then t-tell him th-thank you f-for me…” Runt looks up at Sans, “...i-is this t-too much to remember?”

“no.” 

Runt nods, “...o-okay...uhm th..th-then a-also tell...t-tell Tem, f-from my universe, th-thank you for a-always being s-so nice…”

He continues to talk until he finally exhausts himself, passing out mid-sentence an hour later.

Sans remembers every word.


	7. Transfer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Compromise.

A week later, Chara drags the pair of skeletons all the way back to Hotland at the agreed upon time. They're excited, but they're also prepared. They have no idea how Sans will react once he’s in one piece, and depending on what happens they need to be ready.

Still, they're practically bouncing as they enter the lab. Falena doesn’t bother with pleasantries. She takes Runt immediately and drags him to the table, pointing Chara to the one adjacent. Chara straps Sans down as best they can, squinting at the odd restraints. They shake their head and make the best of it. They’re too impatient to be careful. They glance over at Falena. “The Bonder? Will it stay?”

“No. But studying the properties of it allowed me to make a new one that doesn't require the ‘willing’ stipulation.”

Chara nods. “I should just take it off, then, there’s no point in having it on Runt… but that can wait for after. Will the magic dampeners cause issue?”

“No. Step back.”

Chara does so. Falena’s eyes glint as she smirks at the trembling Runt, “This _will_ hurt.” She assures in a mocking croon before turning the machine on.

Runt’s screaming is deafening.

Chara claps their hands over their ears, gritting their teeth. Holy _fuck_ is that annoying. Maybe they should've left.

 

Sans’s dead eyes slowly widen and he gasps at first as his SOUL slowly heals over. He’s slowly dragged from the comforting numbness back to _terror_ …

His eyelights dart over to the screaming skeleton on the other table. Wide Eyes...no...no no no no no no _no no no_ -

Sans’s back arches, partially in pain and partially in an effort to struggle free. No…

..his wrist. The strap on his wrist is loose. Sans’s struggles grow wilder, panic reaching a peak as his Shattered SOUL forms a Split, and begins gradually piecing back together further. Runt’s screams get louder, and Sans finally jars his hand free.

He manages to catch the wires connected to his SOUL in the damaged joints of his hands and yanks them out, yelling at the searing pain. Falena shrieks and hisses at him, her head spine standing up as she frantically tries to emergency shutdown the machine. The loud hum slowly dies out as she manages this, but Runt’s screaming doesn’t stop.

But at least he’s still screaming...he’s still _there_ …

“l-let him g-go!” Sans wheezes, chest heaving, “l-let him _g-go_!”

 

Chara jumps backward as Falena starts frantically checking over vital signs and administering healing magic. They don't want to be in her way. It’s all the lizard can do to not rip Sans to pieces. “You _idiot_ !” She hisses, practically spitting at him, “You _idiot_! You’ve ruined it!”

 _“let him go_!”

Runt whimpers, breathing heavily. It **_hurts_ ** , like nothing he’s ever felt before…

“Ch-Chara p-please…!” Sans chokes, struggling to untie the other strap.

“I can still finish this.” Falena growls, tail swishing as she forces his wrist back down, “I can complete the process. I can make him whole.”

Chara raises an eyebrow at the lizard woman.

 _“master p-please don’t Sh-Shatter him_ !” Sans screams over her, “ _please_!”

“... is completing the process strictly _necessary_?” Chara asks. “I mean, he’s not Shattered anymore. It seems like a bit of a waste to Shatter Runt if it's not needed…”

Falena tsks sharply, glaring at Sans, “...no. It is not ‘necessary’, your Highness.”

Chara nods. “Then I suppose we're done. All I wanted was Sansy unShattered.”

Muttering something under her breath, Falena glares at Sans and then begins unstrapping him, not bothering to be gentle. As soon as the last tie comes undone he scrambles off of the table, crawling over to Runt and dragging himself up, “h-hey, hey, k-kid! c-c’mon, i-it’s okay!” Sans is still panting from the effort it took to move himself, and he struggles to be heard over Runt’s scream-crying, “kid! _k-kid_! s-stop it s-stop crying!”

Runt’s eyelights contract and he clamps his jaw down, holding his breath and trying to muffle the noises.

“You may be interested to know that he will respond to you. Seeing as how you’re the reason his SOUL is broken, you are technically his Breaker.” Falena gives a wide smile as Sans looks up at her, “I thought you might find that interesting.”

“you _sick bitch_ !” Sans snarls, spitting at her and starting to fumble with the straps holding Runt down. “gh...fucking _useless_ !” He hates his hands he _hates his hands he hates his hands_!

Chara reaches over his shoulder and undoes the strap. Sans moves out of their way and lets them work, swallowing tightly. “h..h-hey, k-kid, g..g-guess we can both say h-hello now, r-right?”

Runt stares up at him still, trembling in fright.

“...y..you remember sayin’ hello, right? h-hey…” Sans forces a shaky smile, “can’t really agree that it’s ‘nice’ to meet you...k-kind’ve a shitty situation, right?”

“I..I-I’m s-sorry…”

“no, no no th..th-that’s not what i m-mean...fuck...i’m not...i’m n-not going to h-hurt you, okay? i promise…”

Chara has him loose after a moment, and they nod to Falena. “You said the Bonder you made is in the back?”

“Yes.”

“f-fix my hands..”

Falena raises an eyebrow at him, sneering, “Why should I do that?”

Sans sucks in a breath and looks over his shoulder at Chara, “m…….m-master p-please, i...i w-want my h-hands back, p-please…i’ll be good...i s-swear...p-please..”

Chara pats him on the head. “Let me take care of the Bonder first, Sansy~.”

Sans nods, trying to steady himself with deep breathing. He wants nothing more than to just start screaming and never stop but he has to keep himself grounded for now - he’s at least been Split before. This poor kid though...terrified and confused. For lack of knowing what else to do, Sans pets Runt’s head, murmuring shaky “gonna be alright”s at him.

Chara returns a moment later with a familiar bright red ‘string’. “I need your SOUL, sweetie.”

“s-still in the machine…” Sans gestures with his useless hand, “F-Fae, c’mon, i kn-know you can fix me up..”

Falena crosses her arms and narrows her eyes at him.

Chara tugs the ball of magic out of the machine and slips the device in place. “She’s not who you should be asking~.”

“i a-already ask..” Sans shakes his head. When did common sense have a place when it came to Chara. “...p-please m-master can i h-have my hands b-back…”

“I suppose~.”

Falena doesn’t move. Just narrows her eyes further.

“That is, if the good doctor is willing.” Chara shrugs. “She doesn't seem too happy.”

“Well _apparently_ it doesn’t matter if I’m asked, does it?” Falena huffs, cleaning up the last of the destroyed wires from the machine.

Sans feels close to crying, “Fae, c’mon _please_ i-i’m sorry i broke it f-for the love of fuck _please_!”

“I apologize.” Chara says softly. “You are of course correct. Again, it is your choice.”

Sans pulls himself off of the table, collapsing to the floor at her feet on his knees, “p-please, F-Falena, p-please _please_ p-please please…”

A grin slowly spreads across her face and she chuckles, patting his head and sighing before moving past him, “That’s more like it~” She hums, “I’ll be just a minute with the serum.”

Chara smirks. “It's good to have you back, Sansy. I missed you~.”

Sans keeps his head down, squeezing his eyes shut. He’s not happy to be back.

Runt slowly gets off the table, crawling over to Sans and tentatively touching his shoulder. Sans flinches violently, breath catching in his throat.

“S...S-Sans…?” Runt swallows, “I...I-I’m sorry…”

Sans continues saying nothing. Just stares at his mangled hands until Falena returns. “His SOUL, if I may? Injecting into bones is not quite easy.”

Chara holds it out. Falena hums, taking his SOUL and injecting a red liquid into it. Sans grits his teeth and hunches over himself, sweating profusely as the powerful magic takes effect. Falena herself watches his phalanges grow back with a curious expression, followed by his foot bones.

“Always a hypnotizing thing to watch monster limbs grow back. Usually I’m the one that removed them in the first place.” She gives a grin at Sans’s hateful expression, setting the needle down, “I’ve never seen it happen to a skeleton before. I should like to do it more often~”

Sans shudders, flexing his fingers cautiously. “...th..th-thank you…”

Chara smiles. “Is there anything else, Ms. Falena?”

“Hm...are you terribly attached to both copies?” She asks, eyeing Runt.

Chara opens their mouth to respond with a ‘no’, but Sans cuts them off, practically throwing himself at their feet. “p-please...p-please, Ch-Ch...m-master, d-don’t let h-her take him y-you’ve no idea wh-what she’ll do _please_ t-take him w-with us, _please_..”

Chara crosses their arms. “I don't know. It was awfully nice of her to fix you up…”

“m-master p-please...p-please he d-doesn’t d-deserve it…” Sans nuzzles their leg. “please…”

Runt gives a frightened gasp as Falena steps closer to him, darting behind Sans and hiding his face against the back of his jacket, whimpering. Falena gives an annoyed hiss. “Your Highness, it would very much be useful to potentially finding-”

“please…” Sans puts his face to the ground, “m-master p-please i’ll be g-good don’t do this to him…”

“...S...S-Sans p-please don’t get in t-trouble for m-me…” Runt whispers, hugging himself tightly.

Well… that _was_ cute…

“I'm afraid I'd rather keep him.” Chara says.

Runt gives a sob and kisses their foot, _“Th-thank_ you, m-master..th-thank you, I-I promise I’ll b-be a g-good pet…”

Sans sits back, wiping the sweat from his face. “y...yeah..th...th-thank you master..”

Chara pats them on their heads. Sans forces himself to stay still but Runt can’t help but flinch, shutting his eyes tightly.

Sans supposes he’s a lot more used to abuse.

“I'll make sure Daddy triples your budget, and you can look into breaking into other worlds. Thank you ever so much for your help~.”

Falena gives a huff and turns away without a goodbye.

Chara just smirks and shoos their pets out the door. Sans immediately can tell that Runt’s in too much pain from his SOUL being Split for the first time to make it far.

“m...m-master can i p-please carry him?”

“If you can manage it.” Chara hums, not wanting to be slowed down too much.

Runt shakes his head as Sans shakily stands up, “N..n-no, S-Sans you j-just got your f-feet back…”

“y-yeah and you just got your S-SOUL S-Split, kid...for _me_...l-least i can do is..h-help you out a bit...bet you don’t even weigh much..” He scoops him up easily, holding him to his chest, “...y-yeah, fuck, you barely...you barely weigh anything…” Sans winces, “...guess you haven’t been eating though, h-huh…?”

Runt shakes his head, swallowing. During the week leading up to the procedure Chara hadn’t bothered giving him much of anything, though he’d dutifully kept Sans fed.

“should’ve taken some of mine.” Sans mumbles.

“You two are just too cute.”

Sans shifts his jaw and says nothing.

Runt sniffs, wiping at his eyes, “Th...th-thank you m-master..”

Chara clips the lead to Sans’s collar, resolving to pick up a second one soon. If they're going to keep Runt and have them both in one piece they’ll need more supplies… At least they'll be better able to entertain themselves while Chara is gone. “Come on, let’s go to the Riverperson.”

“y-yes master…” Sans says, trying to keep the wheezing out of his voice.

“...th..th-thank you, S-Sans...f-for saving me…” Runt whispers, keeping his skull rested against Sans’s bony shoulder. “I..I o-owe you m-my life…”

“like fuck you do.” Sans mumbles, focusing on one foot after another. “you already gave me half your SOUL, basically. if anyone’s still in debt it’s me. anyway...if you w-wanna stay alive a-and not in pain th-then i suggest you just...f-focus on pleasing Chara, i-if anybody.”

Chara doesn't hear the interplay, too busy making a mental list of what they're going to need to take care of _two_ puppies. For the moment they are still going to focus most of their attention on Sans. They wonder if Runt is capable of getting jealous… It’ll certainly be interesting to find out.

They pay the Riverperson and hop in the boat. Sans follows, sitting down and keeping Runt curled up in his lap as they depart from the shoreline.

“It h-hurts…” Runt whimpers.

“i...i know, k-kid, i’m sorry...y-you’ll get used to it…”

The smaller skeleton sobs into Sans’s jacket, holding his hands over his chest, “It f-feels like I’m m-missing..”

Sans winces. He knows too well what he means.

It’s a mostly quiet trip back to the Capital, broken only by the occasional slightly loud sob from Runt, followed by frantic shushing from Sans. Chara pays both of them little mind. Split SOULS mean they aren't going to dare to flee.

They reach the shoreline, and Sans stands back up, holding Runt tightly. He feels like any moment Chara might just go “Kidding!” and ship him back to Falena.

That fucking lizard bitch…

Sans is more than aware Chara will easily use any bad behavior on his part to send Runt to that fate, and he’s determined not to let that happen. He’s already responsible for…

...no. No more innocent lives being taken on his account.

As though Chara can sense what he’s thinking, they frown and stare up at the stones. It's a shame Frisk isn't here to see Sansy fixed up.

Runt’s stomach gives a growl as they enter the Prinx’s bedroom, and he hides his face against Sans’s chest, whimpering a ‘sorry’.

“Your bed is still in the closet.” Chara says. “You can keep it there or move it back into the corner.”

“..c-can he get somethin’ to eat, b...m-master? it..i-it’s been d-days for the little g-guy..”

“Dinner will be in an hour or so. I'm sure they’ll send something up for both of you.” Chara says, sitting on their bed and shaking sand out of their shoes.

“th-thank you..” Sans carries Runt to the closet and tucks him into the bed, “...j-just take it easy, k-kid, okay…?” He murmurs quietly, wrapping the blanket around him, “..i’ll...i-i’ll try to k-keep the heat off of ya...i’m used to it…”

Runt sniffs, squeezing his eyes shut, “...p-pet me…?”

Sans coughs, “excuse...what…?”

“P-please p-pet me…?” He opens his eyes again to stare at Sans pleadingly, “...M-Master did it, o-once...i-it felt r-really nice...p-please…?”

Sans shifts his jaw and then moves forward, putting his hand on Runt’s skull and scratching it gently, “...alright.” Fucking...how much conditioning did Chara do to this poor kid when Sans had been Shattered and asleep?

And how much was because of the kid’s brother?

Sans sighs and scratches under his chin, where he… likes it… to a point… when Chara does it. As much as he _can_ like it, anyway. If the kid is him, it stands to reason they'd have similar sensitive spots. Runt’s sniffling slowly dies down and he settles lower in the bed, tilting his head up and giving a shaky sigh.

Sans settles into the bed beside him, feeling exhausted. He’s moved more over the last hour than he has in anywhere from weeks to months. He tugs the blanket over himself, huddling a tad closer to Runt due to the size of it. It's not really made for two.

“Th-thank you, S-Sans..” Runt murmurs, sniffing and shyly nuzzling the other’s skull, “I h-hoped you’d b-be nice…”

“you don't deserve th-this place, k-kid… Chara’s a f-fucking _demon_ …”

Runt claps a hand over Sans’s mouth, eyelights shrinking, “Sh-shh! S-Sans d-don’t say th-things like th-that they m-might _h-hear_ you..!”

And knowing them, they'd be _flattered_. But Sans still nods, mumbling an apology through Runt’s phalanges. Runt removes his hand and gives a shaky sigh, huddling in closer to Sans. “I’m...I-I’m sorry...I j-just don’t want you g-getting in trouble.”

Sans winces. Yeah. That’s a familiar sentiment…

Sans searches his mind for a safe topic to talk about. “your brother… he sounds like a real piece of work, kid.”

“P-Papy…?”

“yeah…”

“...h-he loves me...I j..I j-just mess up a l-lot, th-that’s all..”

Sans shakes his head. “if you say so.” He doesn't believe a word of it.

“H-he’s a g-good brother...h-he protected me…”

“he cut open your face…”

“J-just to keep me safe! Y..y-you can, uhm...y-you can see the Fracture, i-if you want...y-you’ll understand, maybe…?”

“... i saw already. all three. during the transfer.” And here he’d thought Runt had also had to sit through _his_ memories of getting Fractured and Split… thank fuck, if he didn't….

“...oh...y...y-you too…?”

He spoke too soon, apparently. Fuck. “you… i’m sorry you had to see that, kid.”

“...I’m..I-I’m sorry you had to see..wh-what you saw, t-too…” Runt curls in on himself a little tighter, “...y-your brother was so...h-he was so nice, t-to me...i-it was scary to see him F-Fracturing you..”

“... s’hard to believe you said he was cryin’.”

“I didn’t...I d-didn’t see it...b-but he looked, uhm...c-close to it..b-before he ran to his room…”

“even that’s more than i thought he was capable of.”

“...when...when I w-was trying to remove the collar, it...i-it started shocking me...r-really bad...I screamed, and he...he _jumped over the banister_...t-to come help me...i-it was really cool…”

Sans chuckles softly. “he always did have a flair for the dramatics…”

“...h-he has a g-good heart…”

“well at least he doesn’t have to put up with my worthless ass anymore…”

“...h...h-he misses you, S-Sans…”

Sans shuts his eyes, as if he can block out the little spark of longing in his SOUL.

“...m...m-maybe master w-will let you visit…?”

Sans flinches at the thought. Maybe they will. Maybe the moon is made of cheese. Maybe Frisk will come back- _no. Bad Sans. Don't think about it_.

Runt pets his head, hugging him tightly, “We...w-w-we can always h-hope, a-anyway…”

“fuck, kid… you… you really don’t deserve this hellhole…”

Runt sighs, glancing up at him and forcing a smile, “...i-it’s not so bad w..w-with someone else…”

“misery does love company.”

“...w-we’ll be..w-we’ll be okay…”

The closet door swings open and Chara sets a couple of dog dishes inside and shuts the door. Runt sits up, eyes wide. He grabs the first dish he can reach and starts shoveling the food into his mouth immediately. Stars, it’s been _days_ …

“slow down a bit kid…”

“‘m s-so hungry…”

“it’s not going anywhere.”

Runt sits back, staring with big sad eyes at the empty dish, “...it’s gone…”

Stars, he’s almost too fuckin cute. Sans hands him his dish. “you can have mine.”

“O-oh, are...a-are you sure…?”

“i ate yesterday, kiddo. you didn’t.”

“...o-okay...th-thank you, S-Sans..” He takes the offered dish and starts eating, although a lot more slowly and neatly. “...I w-was so hungry I f-forgot all my m-manners…”

“it’s alright…” Sans laughs weakly. “Chara’s gonna make us eat with our faces anyway…”

“...o-oh…”

Sans lays his head down on the side of the bed, sighing. He’s _back_ , he can’t fuckin’ believe it… He’s back and there’s no way out...

Runt finishes his portion and then sets the dish aside, snuggling back up to Sans and stroking his hand, “...glad to see a-all your fingers back…”

“Yeah…”

“...hm...four five…” Runt picks up the next hand, “...six seven...eight nine...ten. Mhm! All back.”

Sans boops him. “no kiddin’, kid.”

Runt snorts, giving a weak giggle and closing his eyes. “I thought maybe you’d have been too busy to count and make sure…”

“well there they are… thanks…”

Runt beams, a little too convinced that he was helpful, “You're welcome!”

Poor kid… Sans can’t keep calling him Runt, it’s way too demeaning…and he can't keep calling him ‘kid’ because…

...well.

“uh, hey, how...how about we figure out this whole name thing?”

Runt tilts his head, “Hm?”

“don’t wanna call ya ‘runt’. s’not nice.”

“...oh, it's..i-it’s fine...it's what Papy called me, a lot…”

“i’m not him, though…”

“...uhm well I...I-I don't know...I-I’m not Sans anymore…”

“raspberry?” It was cutesy and seemed to fit…

“....Raspberry?”

“yeah... yeah. i like it.”

“...o-okay then, Sans! Y-you can call me Raspberry. It...it's cute..”

Sans feels a genuine smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

So of course that’s when the door opens.

“Sansy~.”

Oh boy. Sans feels Ru...Raspberry hug him a little tighter. “...y-yes master…?”

“Come out.” They say, eyeing the pair curiously.

“‘k-kay..” Sans pats Raspberry’s head and crawls out of the closet, shutting the door behind him and waiting on his knees in front of Chara.

“How do you feel? Any pain? In danger of breaking again?”

“i’m...i-i mean y.. _yeah_ it _hurts_ ….m-my SOUL j-just got reverse S-Split…”

Chara nods and picks him up under the arms, sitting him on the edge of their bed. They tug up his shirt so they can inspect the Split inverted heart. Sans tenses, shoulders drawing in and breathing tightening. “C-careful…”

“Shhh…” Chara coos, reaching up to pet him with one hand as they gently remove the SOUL from his ribcage.

Sans just stiffens further, digging his fingers into the mattress.

They look it over, deeming it as unharmed as the situation allows, and replace it. “That’s good~.” They grin. “Good boy.”

Sans shudders as the broken heart is returned, “...y...y-yeah..thanks…”

“I really am happy to have you back. I missed having my puppy around~.”

“...mhm..”

Chara sits down and pulls him into their lap. He probably doesn’t want cuddles… Not that they particularly care. They missed doing this. He doesn't fight, but he stays stiff as a board, still slightly too traumatized to relax.

Chara knows better than to use the Bonder so soon after he Split, and so they don’t send the usual ‘good dog’ vibes, instead just stroking him gently. Sans shifts uncomfortably, drawing his knees in and hugging his legs. Chara doesn't _seem_ about ready to snap on him…

Then again they're a little psychopath. They never seem ready to snap before they snap. The human yawns, turning and lying down, tugging Sans along with like a macabre teddy bear.

Sans braces himself for the most anxiety filled, sleepless night of his life. Chara closes their eyes and hums happily, their breathing quickly evening out.

 

Sans genuinely tries to fall asleep. He would rather be unconscious and caught off guard than awake all night with too much time to think. He squeezes his eyes tightly, begging himself to pass out.

It doesn’t happen, and he inevitably starts thinking about a certain DETERMINED child that's no longer with him.

Tears start to prick at his eyes and then Raspberry’s head appears over the side of the bed. He gives a cautious smile. “H...hello Sans..” He whispers. “Is… is it safe to come up there, do you think?”

“...kid what the hell..no...no, g-go back to the closet.”

Raspberry winces, “...I tried..I t-tried to sleep, b...but nightmares…”

“kid, they… you don’t want them to notice you…you're better off hiding as much as you can...” Sans stiffens as Chara mumbles in their sleep.

Raspberry ducks his head, slowly resurfacing after a minute of no more sound from Chara. “...I just w-wanted to talk...t-to distract me from the...the nightmare thoughts…”

Sans flinches. “i’m sorry…”

“.....I'll...I'm sorry, I-I’ll go..” Raspberry starts to slink off.

“i don’t know how they’ll react if they wake up with you up here… but if you’re willing to risk it to feel better…”

“..y-you don't mind talking?” Raspberry crawls back over, keeping his knees on the floor and resting his arms on the bed.

“… if you want…”

Raspberry nods, stretching out his hand to Sans, “Please..”

Sans can’t take it, Chara’s holding him too tightly. If he squirms too much he’ll wake them up…

Raspberry settles for resting his fingers on the crook of Sans’s arm.

“whatcha want to talk about, kid?”

“...t-tell me about y-you and Papyrus…?”

“... whatcha wanna know?”

 

Eventually the two ‘pets’ manage to talk each other down, and they both fall asleep, Raspberry’s hand still latched on gently to Red’s arm and his head resting on the mattress.


	8. Shared Suffering

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sans tries to have no reason to keep trying.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a doozy please enjoy

Chara wakes up to something in their arms. It’s a moment before they remember that they have their Sansy back. Opening their eyes finds him sound asleep, facing away from them. Runt is slumped over the side of the bed, holding onto Sansy and snoring softly. 

Chara’s grip tightens on the skeleton in their arms. He frowns in his sleep and shifts uncomfortably, “mph.”

After he doesn't wake from that, Chara snatches his arm from Runt’s hand. “Mine.”

Raspberry jolts awake and falls back onto his seat, holding a hand over his SOUL and breathing heavily. Chara sits up, keeping hold of Sans.

“I thought you were in the closet.”

“I... I w-was...b-but I w-was having n-nightmares, m-master…”

“I don’t ca-” They begin reflexively, but stop themselves. They have Sansy back. The Runt isn't a replacement anymore. And two puppies is definitely more fun than one puppy… they should give him a chance, at least. Maybe they can get Sansy more enthusiastic if they have his  _ new friend _ acting right. “Come.” They pat the bedspread.

Raspberry slowly crawls closer, but hesitates, “A...a-am I i-in trouble, m-master…?”

“No. Come here.”

Swallowing, Raspberry drags himself up onto the bed, chewing on his knuckles and watching them with quivering eyelights. 

Chara tugs him into their lap with the still-sleeping Sans and pets him. “Poor thing.”

“I-I’m s-sorry m-master..” Raspberry whispers, drawing his legs in and shaking in spite of his efforts not to, “I-I’m sorry..” 

“Shhhh…” Chara coos, scratching him under the chin. “Just relax, little puppy. It's okay.”

He shivers, swallowing as his eyes flutter shut, “...y-you’re not g-gonna hurt me?”

“Not right now.” Chara assures. “Good boy.”

Raspberry flinches whenever they lift their hand to pet him again, struggling to bring the reaction under control, “B-but later…?”

“Possibly. Depends on if you're a good doggie.”

“I-I’ll b-be good m-master…”

“Good~.” Is Sansy  _ still _ sleeping? He must've been  _ really  _ tired. Strange, considering how much he’s been snoozing over the last few months.

“...i..i-is h-he going to b-be okay, m-master…?” Raspberry asks in a quiet voice, reaching out and gently petting Sans’s head.

“I don't see why he wouldn't. His SOUL looked fine when I checked it.” Though they hadn't  _ checked _ it checked it… They send a quick Check spell at him.

_ Sans _

_ 1 HP _

_ Sleeping peacefully, for once. _

Heh. Cute. Chara can't help the little grin that crosses their face. No more blunt, primal answers. ‘Warm’. ‘Fine’. ‘Sleeping’. So much better… 

“...b..b-but he’s Split…”

“So are you.” They tilt their head. 

“..y-yes, but I d..I d-don’t  _ matter _ …”

They've never actually Checked him, have they? They do so.

_ Sans _

_ 1 HP _

_ Useless. _

Chara hums. “He’d say differently, I think. He certainly stuck his neck out for you back at the lab.”

“...I kn-know...I d..I don’t r-really understand…” Raspberry murmurs, stroking Sans’s cheek with his thumb as the larger skeleton leans into his hand, “...h-he’s so nice to me...I d-don’t really deserve it.”

“I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say you remind him of his kid.” Runt’s certainly small and weak and idealistic like  _ them _ . But unlike Frisk, Runt lacks the skill and finesse and DETERMINATION that had allowed the little human to Spare their way through the underground. Frisk was something special. Runt’s just… pathetic.

At least he seems to know it. Very well. Too bad his brother isn’t here to give Chara tips on how to cow Sans like that.

Raspberry falls silent for a minute and lowers his head, getting the sense that he’s been talking too much. But this other Sans… has a child? Or had one?

“...u-uhm h...S-Sans is a father…?”

“You could make a case for it.” Chara drawls, glaring down at the sleeping skeleton. “It’s debatable how much  _ parenting _ he did, but then again maybe that’s why  **_they_ ** loved him so much. No obligations, no expectations. And  **_they_ ** hated that shit. An entire race of people expecting perfection from a child… and people wonder why I turned out how I did…” Chara’s talking less to Runt and more to themself by the time they're finished.

“..........u-uhm...I’m...I-I’m sorry…?” Raspberry’s eyes squint up a bit in confusion, “B..b-but wh-where’s his kid? D-don’t they m-miss him at all…?”

“I already told you where they are.” Chara picks absently at a loose thread on their sweater. “I told you. I said there was only one person strong enough and willing enough to be kind in this hellhole. And  **_they_ ** are  **_gone_ ** .”

Raspberry’s shoulders shrink in, “...th..th-they died…?”

“They Shattered their father and fell to their own self-hatred afterward. There was nothing left.” Chara grits their teeth. “My best friend. My worst enemy. All wrapped up in one cute little package. And they just fucking  **_gave up_ ** .”

“Wh...wh-why d-did they g-give up…?”

“Did you miss the part where I said they Shattered Sans? I did say that, didn't I?”

“...I...b-but  _ why _ …?”

“b-because they were a b-big fucking bleeding heart a-and they b-blamed themself for what was all  _ my f-fuckin’ fault _ .”

Raspberry jolts as Sans suddenly joins the conversation, eyes widening, “...oh..o-oh no, S-Sans, p-please don’t c-cry…!” He stretches his arms out, wriggling out of Chara’s grasp and taking Sans’s hands, “S-Sans please..!”

“Good to see you up. I was starting to get worried.” Chara mutters.

Sans ignores them, too wrapped up in the grief he’d been trying to put on hold. The dam was already broken, though, it seems. Raspberry whimpers more apologies and frantic reassurances as he wraps his arms around the skeleton, nuzzling their skulls together and rubbing the back of his head.

Chara joins in the stroking, rubbing the back of his spine. “I know, it hurts… I've never felt pain like I did when I realized they were  **_gone_ ** … Even Asriel didn't hurt so much…”

Sans grits his teeth, pushing away from both of them, “l-leave me alone...i w-want to be left  _ alone _ !”

“Fine.” Chara sits back.

Raspberry lets him go and silently moves away, watching with quivering eyelights as Sans crawls to the closet and shuts himself inside. “...S-Sans…”

“He’s grieving, Runt. Even I know he needs time. Any pushiness’ll just make it worse and piss me off.”

Raspberry winces and draws his knees in to rest his chin on them, hugging his legs tightly. He’s still wearing the clothes he got from Papyrus - they sag comically on him. But it’s warm, and comforting, at least. He pulls the hem of the shorts up to his knees and rests his forehead against his femurs to keep them from falling back down.

Chara stands and heads to their wardrobe, pulling out a sweater and pants and heading into the bathroom to change. The change of scenery gives them pause. When’s the last time Runt has had a bath? They’ve given Sansy some on multiple occasions, but Runt has been left ignored and in the corner for the entire time he’s been with them. Whether or not he got cleaned at all when he was with Papyrus, they don’t know. But…

Well, if they’re going to give him a shot, they may as well. Plus the idea of him hanging around in months worth of filth is disgusting. After lessons, they’ll take care of it. They exit the bathroom.

“...m-master…?”

“What?” Chara looks over.

“I-is it alright if I s-sleep up here…?”

“No.”

“....oh…” So much for a nice sleep on a really...really soft surface...Raspberry gives a shaky sigh and crawls off the bed, going back to his thin mat and lying down.

“I’ll be back in a few hours. Behave.”

“Y-yes master, I-I will….I promise..”

Chara nods and steps out the door.

 

Raspberry’s fitful sleep is disturbed by the creaking sound of Sans opening the closet door, “...you can sleep in here. probably way more comfortable.”

“...will you sleep  _ with _ me, Sans?” Raspberry asks timidly, “To keep away the nightmares?”

“i’ll stay in here, yeah…”

Raspberry crawls over and slips inside, cuddling up to Sans in his usual way and sighing in appreciation as the warm blanket is draped over him. “Th-thank you…”

“yeah... you’re welcome and all that.”

“...I-I’m not upsetting you b-by being in here, a-am I? I-I d-don’t w-want to get in trouble..”

“i’m not gonna hurt you, kid? i swear…”

“..m-master implied th-that I would...b-be in trouble i-if I w-was too pushy…”

Sans’s expression darkens. “of fucking course they’d say some shit like that… look, you’re fine.”

“Y-you’re sure? I-I don't mind the...the rug…”

“you’re  _ fine _ .”

Raspberry tenses, “....y-yes sir..”

Sans flinches.

“..I-I’m s-sorry…” He whispers, clinging tighter to Sans in spite of his fear. 

He  _ hates _ this. He hates being this poor kid’s Breaker…

“...p-please forgive m-me…?” Raspberry pleads at Sans's continued silence. 

“i do…”

Raspberry relaxes, giving a shaky breath of relief, “Th-thank you…”

Sans lays his head down. It’s not fucking  _ fair _ …

Raspberry uses the blanket to wipe away the tears on Sans’s cheek, “P-please don't be upset…”

“you’re split and it’s my fault, razzy…” Sans hastily attempts to wipe at hi eyes. “a-and Frisk …” He can’t even finish the thought. 

“..there w-wasn’t anything you could do….th...th-they w-would have just eventually killed me…”

“i make myself sick…”

Raspberry frowns and immediately feels his forehead, “..maybe master will get you some broth…?”

Sans lets out a startled chuckle. “not like that.”

“..oh you mean like the...bad thoughts about yourself...so bad they make you hurt…?”

Sans nods.

“..I have those too.” Raspberry murmurs, “All the time. I'm sorry. S...sometimes I really wish it would stop...I hope it stops for you.”

Sans nods again, leaning his head against Raspberry’s head. Raspberry takes his hand in his and holds it tightly before settling in more comfortably and closing his eyes. 

 

Chara walks in and throws open the closet door, finding both of their dogs cuddled up to one another on the pet bed. They’re not sure how to feel about them being so touchy-feely with each other…

Raspberry opens his eyes, wide pupils staring up and shrinking slightly in fear at the sight of Chara. Sans opens his eyes too, waking up to make sure Chara doesn't try to accuse Raspberry of disturbing him. 

“You two are filthy.” They mumble, glaring down at them. Even though Sans has been bathed within the last few days, they can see orange dust from Hotland in between his joints and he’s been in contact with Runt a lot over the last week or two.

“thanks.” Sans mutters, rubbing Raspberry’s arm comfortingly as the little one looks down in shame. Back home he'd always tried to keep himself clean and presentable, but here he's had no choice but to wallow like a filthy animal on the floor rug.

“Come on, you two. Bath time~!”

Raspberry perks up while Sans groans, rubbing at his face. Great, nothing like being naked and humiliated-

Raspberry darts out the closet towards the bathroom door. Sans scoffs and takes his sweet time getting there by comparison. Chara follows Sans, smirking at Runt’s enthusiasm.

The smaller skeleton is sitting by the tub as they come in, and upon seeing them immediately adjusts himself so he's sitting more dog-like. Chara can see his tail wagging in the back of his shorts. 

Sans rests back against the wall, folding his arms and listlessly twitching his foot. 

Chara starts the water, dumping soap and painkillers in out of habit. “Strip.” They command without looking away from the faucet.

Sans starts complying but Raspberry gives a startled squeak, covering his eyes and flushing indigo.

“c’mon kid you don’t want to tell them ‘no’ for this… trust me.”

“B-but i-it’s embarrassing!”

“yup.”

“C...c-can’t I p-please do this p-privately..?”

“ _ shh! i tried to tell them no to this and they cut off my fucking feet _ !” Sans hisses. “just do as you're told!”

Raspberry flinches, and then slowly grabs the hem of his shirt, “...y-yes sir..” His face flushes in shame as he slowly strips, turning his back to Sans and his master as he reluctantly pulls off his shorts. He stays huddled up, shielding as much of his bare body as possible. It’s not the first time he’s been bare-boned in front of Chara, but the extra pair of eyes and the situation makes it so much  _ worse _ …

...at least he's not being forced to say any of those awful, filthy things like last time. 

Sans picks up both of their outfits and gathers them into a pile. Chara’s probably going to want them to go through the laundry...poor kid is just gonna have to get used to this. The sooner the better, Sans knows from experience.

Raspberry keeps his knees drawn up to his chin as he watches Chara test the water temperature, stubbornly keeping his eyes away from Sans. 

“Alright, you two. In.” Chara commands blandly, as though they aren’t telling two very much sentient monsters they have to bathe together.

Raspberry very slowly gets to his feet, staying huddled over his middle. The ecto flesh is still scarred from his stint in the dungeon (although it had faded a few dozen strikes in, the magic being used by his body trying to frantically heal itself), and he feels subconsciously protective of it. Sans just clambers right in, at least relieved to have the dirt cleaned out from his bones. 

“What is  _ that _ ?!” Chara nearly yelps, staring at Runt.

Runt slinks back from the tub, stammering.

“...huh. ectoflesh. you been pigging out on something while i wasn't lookin’?”

“N...no, it...i-it just hurts less t-to store my magic o-outside my SOUL.”

“I didn't follow that. At all.” Chara mutters.

“right. it's a skeleton thing. happened whenever i binge ate at Grillby’s - SOUL couldn't store all the extra magic so my body formed ‘flesh’ around my bones to hold it. guess Raspberry just kinda skips SOUL storage?”

The smaller skeleton nods, tucking his arms tighter around himself. “I-I’m sorry...i-it just hurts less..”

“you're not in trouble, kid.”

“It’s interesting…” Chara says, gesturing Runt to step closer again and poking the dark blue magic. “Weird.” They giggle softly. 

Raspberry gives a quiet gasp, moving his hands to cover the scars, “P-please, i-it...i-it’s v-very sore…”

“Whatever. Get in the tub.”

He obeys, moving forward and carefully climbing in. He shivers and sinks into the warm water, closing his eyes. It feels nice but he knows better than to relax. 

Chara dumps soap on a washrag and starts scrubbing Sans’s skull down. He shuts his sockets to keep from getting water in them, but otherwise is unreactive. He’s used to this.

Chara finishes him and moves onto Runt. The smaller skeleton tenses as Chara moves nearer, but the tension melts away immediately as they begin scrubbing his head. His eyes flutter, and then close, and he leans his head into their hand, “ _ Krr _ …”

Chara’s eyes light up. He’s purring! Yay!

Somewhere in his mind Raspberry is aware that his behavior is probably shameful, but it feels so  _ nice _ ...it's so warm and he's missed feeling clean and they're being so nice and gentle...he leans forward as they start scrubbing his shoulders, allowing them to get at his spine as he keeps purring. 

Chara pets him with their other hand as they move down to his tail and hips. His purring gets quieter for a minute in lieu of him trying to not notice them cleaning his pelvis, but then he's leaning back and spreading out his toes for them as they finish up with his feet. 

“Much better than Sansy’s first bath~. And I was surprised by that, considering he was covered in his brother’s dust at the time~.”

Raspberry’s eyes open and his eyelights shrink as the happy and dazed expression drops from his face.  _ What _ ?

Chara acts as though they’ve said nothing out of the ordinary. 

“...don't worry about it. RESET stuff.” Sans flicks a hand.

Raspberry’s eyes widen in understanding and he nods, going back to relaxing.

“You know about those?”

“It...that means that something happened but then...unhappened. Right?”

“Crudely.” 

“Th-that’s all I know..”

“It’s all you  _ need  _ to know, really.”

“yeah. be glad that it's all you do know.” Sans mumbles.

Raspberry winces, “...I'm sorry..”

Chara turns away to spread a pair of towels out on the floor. “When you’re ready to come out you can use those.” They pick up the pile of clothes and leave the bathroom.

Sans is more than happy to clamber out of the dirty water, even though he immediately starts shivering when he leaves the warmth. Raspberry tries to keep his eyes on himself, but when Sans turns his back to him he can’t help but notice the black scar on his shoulder blade.

He gives a horrified gasp, “S-Sans wh...wh-what…?” He raises a shaking arm to point.

Confused, Sans turns around. “what’s wrong?”

“Wh...y-y-your back…”

“my... _ oh _ . i forgot about that.”

“Wh-what is it…?”

“s’a brand. so i won't  _ forget _ .” Sans shudders slightly, wrapping up in the towel.

“Wh...wh-what’s the brand o-of..”

“delta rune, i think. could be wrong, i was pretty freaked out…”

“...d-does it hurt..?”

“not anymore. it did when they did it though. and they made me beg for it…” Sans shivers, wrapping tighter in his towel as though that will protect him from the memory.

Raspberry clambers out of the bath, wrapping up in his own towel and quickly kneeling behind Sans, hugging him tightly, “I’m sorry..”

“i was the one who did a  _ stupid _ thing because my SOUL had been out of my body for about a week. they decided i needed a reminder of who i  _ belonged to… _ complete with losing any independence i had left…”

That sounds familiar. Raspberry shudders, fingers scraping at his own scarred socket before huddling closer to Sans. “I’m sorry...I-I shouldn’t have brought it up…”

Sans shrugs. “it’s not like you were  _ trying _ to bring up bad memories. it’s over and done with. they probably won't even bother doing it to you since it wouldn't be permanent.”

“G...g-good...because, uhm...I uhm…” Raspberry lowers his voice, “...I-I still belong to P-Papy.” 

Sans frowns. He doesn't like that attitude… but it seems to make Razzy feel better. So he says nothing.

“W-would you like me to pet you?”

That’s a loaded question and a half. But old conditioning reacts before he has time to  _ think _ , and he suddenly realizes he’s already nodding at the kid. At least it seems to brighten him up - being able to do  _ something  _ to help. Raspberry’s tail wags slightly as he strokes Sans’s skull, resting his chin on the other’s shoulder and humming quietly. Sans leans into the contact, at least grateful that Raspberry won't hurt him.

“...do you think we’ll get dinner s-soon..?” Raspberry asks after his stomach gives a treacherous growl.

Sans shrugs. “dunno, hard to tell time in here.”

“...I h-hope it’s soon..”

“me too, kid. me too.”

Chara reenters the bathroom, without the skeleton’s clothing. “Alright, boys~. Dinnertime~.”

Raspberry perks up immediately, hugging the towel tighter around his body so the wagging of his tail won’t shake it off, “Th-thank you!”

Chara grins and leaves once again. “Your food is on your rug.”

“Wh-what about Sans…?”

They roll their eyes. “ _ Both _ of your food.” They clarify.

Raspberry helps Sans to his feet, “C-c’mon, Sans...let’s eat..”

“ **_Crawl_ ** !”

Raspberry quickly drops back to his knees, “Y...y-yes m-master I’m s-sorry…” He awkwardly adjusts the towel around himself, sitting back and tying it more securely before crawling out of the room, keeping his head down. How had he forgotten…

Chara turns their glare to Sans.

“...huh?” Sans blinks, shaking his head, “what...what’d i do..”

“Go eat.” 

“...oh.” Sans almost doesn’t bother with the towel, but decides to stay modest for Raspberry’s sake and reties the towel before following after the kid.

“Sans, our..o-our dishes have our names on them..” Raspberry does his best to sound happy as he points to Sans the red dish and the silver one. The red one is labeled SANS in white letters and the silver one has RUNT written on it in black letters.

The red one contains pasta.

The silver one is full of actual  _ dog food _ .

“...i-isn’t that nice…?” Raspberry tries, keeping his eyes turned away from Sans’s serving.

Sans looks over at Chara, seeing a gleeful grin. “...it’s great.” He says through his teeth.

Raspberry rubs at his hungry stomach for a second before positioning himself appropriately over the bowl and beginning to eat with his face, like Sans had warned him was expected.

Chara pouts at Sans. “C’mon Sansy. Do I need to spoonfeed you?”

Sans shifts his jaw and then moves forward, shutting his eyes and just thinking about the emptiness in his stomach. He shuts out thoughts of pity for Raspberry and focuses on just eating. He might as well get the source of the food aroma gone, at least, right?

He tries not to hear the whimpering from beside him. Raspberry backs up as he begins choking, coughing away from Sans’s dish as the dry and slightly moldy bits of dog food get caught up in his throat. 

Sans slides the water bowl over with a frown. Raspberry quickly laps up as much water as he can, wheezing out a ‘thank you’ to Sans as the choking gradually subsides.

Chara’s grin only widens. Raspberry struggles not to start crying as he drags himself back to his food dish. He’s only half-way done. 

_ ‘Why do they hate me…?’ _

“Because it’s amusing to watch you suffer.” Chara answers absently.

Raspberry jolts, staring up at them in shock.  _ ‘What…’ _

“I can hear you.”

“Wh...wh-what..h-how…?”

“The string on your SOUL. Sansy can tell you about it when you two go to bed for the night.”

“I c-can’t even th...can’t even think a-anymore..?” Raspberry feels his chest starting to constrict,  _ ‘I wanna go home..’ _

“You are home. Now quit whining and eat your dinner.”

Sans sits back and turns his head away as Raspberry starts crying into his food, choking it down as best he can manage.

“Sansy, aren't you hungry, sweetie~?”

“i’m finished.” He says tightly, glaring at his empty bowl like its the things own fault that it’s empty and not sharing itself.

“Oh, silly me~.” Chara bends down to pet him.

“you’re being cruel.” Sans hisses.

“And that surprises you?” Chara giggles softly.

“he doesn’t deserve it! all he’s ever done is try to make you happy with him!”

Chara shrugs. Raspberry eventually finishes and pulls himself away from the dish. Sans lets the smaller skeleton crawl into his lap, hugging him and murmuring reassuring nonsense as he strokes his head.

Chara frowns slightly. There’s no jealousy, at least not any that’s visible… They Check Runt.

_ Sans _

_ 1 HP _

_ Sick _

Sans’s brow furrows and he nudges Runt’s skull back a bit to feel his forehead. “...shit, pal, y-you’re sweating...l-like really sweating…”

“His Check says he’s sick.” Chara says blandly.

“fuckin’ hell..” Sans drags Runt back over to the closet and lays him on the pet bed, using his towel to wipe the sweat away.

“‘m sorry…” Raspberry whimpers, trying to sit up, “I’m s-sorry..”

“shut up, kid, you didn’t do anything fucking wrong.” Sans snaps, more than slightly frustrated. He grabs the water bowl, “open your mouth.”

Raspberry obeys, drinking the water as its poured down his throat, “Th-thank you.”

“fuck.” Is all Sans says in response. A sick roommate. That’s what he needed. That’s what was going to make today great. Fucking Chara… 

Raspberry flinches. “‘m s-sorry..”

Sans rolls his eyes and drapes the blanket over Raspberry as he starts to shiver, “you’re fine, kid.” He mumbles, “i’m not mad at you.”

“Goodnight!” 

Sans hears the lock click.  _ ‘fuck you.’ _ He hugs Raspberry slightly too tightly to his chest, letting go of him and moving over to the other side of the closet. “we just woke up but goodnight.” He mumbles to Raspberry.

‘ _ Well  _ I _ certainly don’t want to deal with him. _ ’

_ ‘then let him go back to Papyrus!’ _

‘ _ No.’ _

_ ‘you selfish...fucking...horrible creature!’ _

_ ‘Please stop..’ _ Raspberry’s eyes squeeze shut tighter and he huddles in on himself, trembling,  _ ‘No more yelling...please, no more yelling..it hurts…’ _

Sans stiffens. He can hear that?

‘ _ I’m going to have to punish you for that~. Tomorrow.’ _

_ ‘wait who’re you talking to.’  _ This mind chat just got confusing.

‘ _... I’m going to punish  _ him _ for what  _ you  _ said.’ _

Raspberry gives a frightened whimper and Sans sits up,  _ ‘master don’t! he didn’t do anything wrong! i can take my own punishments!’ _

They can hear Chara’s laughter from outside the closet.

“shit...shit shit shit shit…”

Raspberry starts crying, the tears joining the sweat trickling down his brow, “N-n-no-o-o…”  
‘ _Don’t worry, Runt~ If you do something wrong he gets to take_ your _punishment~.’_

_ ‘I’ll b-be good!’  _ Raspberry sits up, wheezing,  _ ‘I’ll b-be g-good b-boy m-master p-please d-don’t h-hurt h-h-him!’ _

Even his thoughts are stammered. What the fuck. Sans gives a guilty wince and hides his face in the arms of his jacket. Fuck.

‘ _ Aw. Cute~.’ _

_ ‘I’ll be a g-good boy…’  _ Raspberry whimpers, the sound of Chara’s mocking laughter being the last thing he hears before finally passing out.

Sans huddles in on himself, as far away from Raspberry as is possible in the cramped closet. Fucking Chara…

 

Sans doesn’t sleep but that’s probably for the best. Nightmares would just make the beginning of a day that’s already promised to be shitty even shittier. The closet door opens and he shuts his eyes against the light.

“..S..S-Sa..” Raspberry’s shivering has gotten worse in the night. Sans was awake to hear the progression of how intense the rattling of his bones has gotten. He’s gotten paler, too.

Shifting his jaw, Sans looks away from him and tucks his arms over his chest.

“Come on out, both of you~.” Chara instructs.

Sans obeys without much of a problem. Raspberry just manages to drag himself off the bed and land on the floor on his face.

“Help him. I want him over there.” They point to a cleared-off area of floor and wall. From the angle he’s at, Sans can see the whip they’re hiding behind their back.

Sans shifts to his knees, “can i stand up for this?”

“Mhhm.” Chara nods.

“good.” Sans mumbles, dragging Raspberry over to the indicated place. He tries not to react as the runt’s towel falls off. “when’re our clothes getting back?”

“I have them. After this.”

“great.” Sans drops Raspberry on the ground to the indicated place. “there.” 

“I want him standing, hands on the wall. If he can’t do it himself you’ll just have to help, won’t you?” 

Sans shifts his jaw and hefts Raspberry to his feet, “stand.” He mumbles.

Raspberry instead clings to Sans, his legs trembling under him, “I c-can’t...I’m s-sorry…”

Fuck. Sans grits his teeth and leans back against the wall, hooking his arms under Raspberry’s and holding him up. “fine.”

The whip lashes out without warning. Raspberry gives a weak, staggered scream of pain and hides his face against Sans’s sternum. Sans says nothing, just glares off to the side and tries to look unaffected.

Again. Chara slams the whip down as hard as they can.

Raspberry clings tighter, his screaming getting raspier as the lash cuts deeper into his marrow.

_ Crack.  _ Scream.  _ Crack. _ Scream.  _ Cra- _

_ ‘that’s enough.’ _ Sans drops Raspberry and wipes the marrow off of his cheek, hands shaking,  _ ‘that’s more than enough. look at his HP. you’re going to kill him.’ _

“And what are you going to offer me to stop?”

‘ _ master i’m just...check him. his HP is at 0.1……...oh. yeah. magic core.’  _ Sans glares at the little device still tightly locked around Raspberry’s arm.  _ ‘....nevermind.’ _

“I see~.” Chara brings the whip down again on the fallen Runt. Sans grits his teeth and moves away, turning his back to the choked screaming and begging. He doesn’t care. He doesn’t fucking care. Why should he? He’s not Frisk. He’s not anyone worth caring about.

Just the thought of Frisk seems to summon that little voice inside his head that they had once informed him was his conscience. It certainly sounded like them, down to the snarky drawl. ‘ _ Seriously, Sans? Seriously? _ ’

_ ‘caring for other monsters is what led to you dying, Frisk! why should i care?! the only fucking thing i’ve ever cared about is you and you’re  _ **_gone_ ** _! he’s not Frisk! i don’t care!’ _

_ ‘Not Sansy...not Frisk….not anybody…’  _ Raspberry’s chin trembles and he chokes on a pained yelp as the whip comes down again. Is there anybody in this universe that could at least be okay with him just being who he was born as, or is everyone always going to hate him for not being somebody else?

He misses the Papyrus of this world…even he’d snapped at him several times for not behaving like was expected but at least...he’d started to get used to him as himself…

_ ‘..I’m sorry...I’m sorry...I’m just trying to be good..I’m sorry…’ _

_ ‘Look, now he’s crying.’ _

_ ‘i don’t care!’ _

‘ _ Liar _ .’

**_‘i don’t care!_ ** _ why should i?!’ _

‘ _ He cares about you.’ _

_‘because he’s fucking delusional and lonely!’_ _  
__‘Like you are?’_

_ ‘who cares what i feel. i’m just a stupid puppy remember.’ _

_ ‘And so is he~.’ _

_ ‘so keep hurting him! what do i care?!’ _

Chara just laughs, slamming the whip down once again.

_ ‘i don’t care.’  _ Sans covers his skull with his arms, pressing his face into his legs and gritting his teeth,  _ ‘i don’t care…’ _

Raspberry sobs helplessly, unable to find the energy to continue screaming.  _ ‘M-Master p-p-please...n-no more...p-please...p-please…’ _

“I could hit you  _ both  _ every time one of you fucks up, I suppose~.”

_ ‘N...n-no...n-no d-don’t h-hurt Sans….I-I’m sorry...I c-can do it..I’m sorry…’ _ He hiccups, squeezing his eyes shut.

‘ _ And you claim not to care about him, Sans~.’ _

_ ‘I care...I c-care...e-even if he d-doesn’t I care, m-master, p-please…’ _

“Hush _.”  _ Chara scolds aloud. “I’m not speaking to you, Runt.”

Sans doesn’t answer them. He doesn’t have to. There’s nothing he has to say for them. If he tries to apologize they’ll just keep whipping Runt and make him beg harder, all for nothing. They’re a fucking sadist and they’ll stop when they please.

Chara brings the whip down again. “Maybe I’ll get out the branding iron again…”

_ ‘No...no...no...S-Sans you s-said they w-wouldn’t-’ _

_ ‘ _ shut up, Runt!’

Raspberry’s eyes open and he stares at Sans. “S...San…”

Sans immediately leaves, shutting himself in the closet and practically slamming his body into the bed, covering himself with the blanket. He doesn’t care.

“ _ Sans!”  _ Chara snaps. “Get  **_out here_ ** .”

_ “why should i?! i don’t suffer for being a shit anymore! why should i give a fuck what you order me to do _ ?!”

“If you don’t come out here  **_this instant_ ** I’m going to cut off his arms!”

Raspberry starts sobbing harder, fear evolving to panic,  _ “S-Sans..! P-please! P-please S-Sans I d-don’t want to l-lose my a-arms!” _

Sans is silent, both through the closet door and the Bonder.

“P-please! P-please! S-Sans p-please!” Raspberry screams, “ _ P-please! _ ”

The closet door slams open and Sans reemerges, his eye sockets black. He sits down on the floor and crosses his arms, glaring at the runt. 

“Alright, I think it’s  _ your _ turn, Sansy, seeing as Runt wants to share the pain.”

Raspberry hiccups, struggling to push himself up.  _ ‘No..no can’t let Sans hurt...can’t let him be hurt...have to protect...no...no…’  _ He wheezes, scratching at the floor as he tries to get a grip on the marrow-soaked boards, “No..n-no...no…”

“Too late~.”

“fine.”

Raspberry shakes his head, causing his already blurry vision to start spinning. “N-no..S-Sans…!”

Rolling his eyes to hide the pained wince, Sans moves forward and grabs Raspberry’s arm, dragging him out of his own marrow and shoving him into the corner, “just fucking pass out already.”

Chara drops the whip and walks over to the far wall, pulling down a metal bar with a pointed tip. Sans watches the floor, scraping at the blood stains on the boards. Fuck...how much had that sad Runt bled out…?

He’s off-guard when the first strike comes down. Sans gives a pained hiss as he’s knocked to the ground, holding his head as he lays down, panting.

“Get back up.”

Panting, Sans pushes himself to his hands and feet. “o-okay m-master…” 

“On your feet. Hands on the wall.”

“y-yes master.” Sans shifts to his knees, and then pushes himself up, bracing himself against the wall and shutting his teeth.

Chara raises the bar above their head and brings it down hard on the back of his ribcage. Sans cries out as two ribs snap off, clattering to the floor before turning to dust.

“S-San-ns..”

_ ‘...close your eyes, kid.’ _ Sans’s thoughts whisper through the Bonder, being as careful as he can to block Chara from hearing.  _ ‘don’t watch.’ _

Raspberry obeys his Breaker, putting his hands over his sockets and sobbing,  _ ‘Sans…’ _

_ ‘i’ll be fine. i’ll be fine. just go ahead and sleep okay? i’ll be fine.’ _

_ ‘Sans..’ _ Raspberry hiccups, wondering how he’s supposed to sleep through Sans’s screaming. But eventually blood loss coupled with his sickness is enough to block out the sound and allow him to lose consciousness.

Chara beats Sans with the metal bar for a good ten minutes, snickering under their breath the whole time. He holds out for an impressively long amount of time before his legs finally give out and he falls to his knees, unable to hold himself up anymore.

“Clean up that mess.” They snap, turning to leave . They probably need to get a doctor… 

“m-master…”

They turn, and look down to see Sans has dragged himself after them. He pushes his head against their leg, “i love you.”

“Oh really?” They raise an eyebrow. They can still remember how much it  _ stung _ to find out he was lying, even though they’d known it all along.

“i’m sorry i was bad, master. please forgive me? forgive your puppy? i’ll be a good boy…”

‘ _ What brought this on?’  _ They wonder.

“master? please?” 

“Clean up the mess. I’m getting the doctor.”

“yes master. for the kid too, master?”

“Yes.” Chara bends down to pet him. He presses his head into their hand, closing his eyes. He’s in a bit too much pain to purr but he can at least pretend to be happy to be touched by them.

“Good boy.” Chara coos, standing back up. “You know where the towels are. I'll be back soon.”

“goodbye master. i’ll miss you.” 

Chara walks out of the room. Sans gives a sigh of relief and goes to retrieve the towels. He’s barely able to walk but he powers through the pain. It’s nothing new.

He mops up the dust from the pieces of his ribs that fell off, and all of Raspberry’s marrow. He dries it, tossing the towels into the hamper. Then he gets fresh ones and kneels by Raspberry himself.

The smaller skeleton’s eyes open, and his eyelights shrink, “N..n-no..S-Sans p-please..I-I’m sorry..”

“shhh, kid, i’m not gonna hurt you…”

“‘m s-sorry s-sir I’m s-sorry I’m n-not F-Fri-isk..!”

“i know, kid, i’m sorry… it’s not your fault…”

Raspberry hiccups and gives a weak cry of pain as Sans carefully sits him up, rubbing warm water down his back, “I’m s-so s-sorry...I d-didn’t know..I d-didn’t  _ kn-know _ …”

“you did nothin’ wrong.”

“Wh-why d-didn’t you j-just s-say you h-hated m-me I w-would have l-left you a-al-lone…”

“it hurts less to hate than it does to care, razzy…” He shakes his head. “i don’t hate ya, though…that was just...i don’t want Chara usin’ you to get to me. understand?” 

Raspberry sobs, cautiously leaning his head against Sans’s shoulder as the blood is slowly scrubbed from his back and ribs, “Y-you don..you d-don’t h-hate m-me…?”

“nah.”

Raspberry’s eyes squint up and he gives another sob, clinging to Sans tightly, “Th-thank you, th-thank..I’m sorry. I’m s-sorry, th-thank you…”

“it’s okay, kid… shhh…” Sans isn’t sure how to calm him down.

“Th-thank you…” Raspberry whispers, “Th-thank you, S-Sans…” He closes his eyes, swallowing and trying to bring his breathing under control. He has to calm down...he has to calm down…

“Chara’s bringing a doctor.” Sans murmurs.

“D-doctor...m-more pain potion…?”

“i hope so.”

“M...m-made me loopy...l-last time…”

“it does that… but it works.”

“...I t-told them I l-loved them a-and they got mad..”

“oh…”

“I didn’t m-mean it!” Raspberry is quick to explain, “I d-didn’t mean it but I…” He slumps in defeat, letting Sans carry him back to his bed, “...I didn’t mean it…”

“it’s okay… it was my fault…”

“H..h-how..?”

“they were upset because  _ i _ always said i loved them to make them happy with me….” 

“...oh…” Raspberry huddles down under the blanket as Sans tucks him in, “...I’m sorry…”

“it’s not your fault…” 

“...a-are you gonna be okay?”

“doctor’ll fix it… if not chara’ll just reset…” Hopefully.

“Oh...b-but then I w...I w-won’t remember..”

“that’s okay, kid…”

“...i-isn’t that kind’ve like dying…?” Raspberry whispers, “...l-losing...l-losing your m-memory of something that happened? It’s like...i-it’s like a different me keeps going a-and I just...d-drop off…”

Sans shudders.

“...I’m sorry…”

“just...trust me, kid, it’s for the best. remembering RESETS is a...it’s a pretty terrible thing… it… it’s how they broke me… and they killed  _ everyone _ , over and over and  _ over… _ ”

Raspberry reaches up and touches Sans’s face, wiping away tears that Sans didn’t even notice start to fall, “Sh-shh...I-I’m sorry...i-it’s okay...n-no more, o-okay? Th..th-they don’t have a r-reason to do that a-anymore…”

“unless they get bored…”

“....I’m sorry…” Raspberry pets Sans’s skull, “...uhm..t-try not to think a-about it…?”

Sans lets out a watery laugh. “yeah… ignore it and hope it goes away, that's what Frisk always did with their homework.”

“...I’m sorry…” Raspberry doesn’t know what else to say. It’s all he can feel anymore - sorry for others and sorry for himself.

Sans reaches out to pet him but before he can touch the other, the closet door slams open. “They're in here.”

Raspberry jolts and Sans stiffens, but at least he crawls out, holding his shattered ribcage in one hand. Stars, he’s  _ seeing  _ stars...he’s more than ready to get healed at this point.

The doctor-- a kitsune-- bends down to take a look at him, tsking.

“...yeah. get an eyeful, sweetheart.” Sans mumbles.

“You really should take better care of your pets, Majesty. Just because you got new ones doesn't mean they'll survive any longer than the first one did if you're not careful.” He runs a glowing hand down the gouges on Sans’s spine. 

Sans hisses, raising his shoulders and ducking his head. Fuck that burns. But they knit together, and the magic spreads to repair the missing hunks of his ribs. It takes a minute but eventually he slumps to the floor, sore but whole again. “ngh...thanks d-doc…”

“You're quite welcome.” The doctor pats him on the head.

Sans gives a growl, “don’t push it.” 

“Sansy. Behave.” Chara frowns. “See, doc? I have to enforce discipline.”

Raspberry slowly pulls down the blanket, peeking over the edge of it to watch the exchange. His eyelights flicker between Chara, Sans, and the doctor. Yes, it’s the same one from before...is he going to get healed too, or just Sans?

...he at least won’t be caught off guard if it’s just Sans…

“I see. And… Runt, as well?”

“Yes doc.” Chara nods. The kitsune heads over. Raspberry wraps the blanket around his waist, blushing heavily. Right. This doctor also saw him naked last time. How embarrassing…

It goes fairly quickly. His injuries aren’t as tricky - there’s nothing to regrow, at least. “Th-thank you doctor…” Raspberry whimpers in relief as the last of the healing magic ebbs away. He gets a scratch under the chin for his trouble. Raspberry turns his eyes down and forces a weak purr.

The doctor smiles and hands both of them a dose of pain potion, plus another bottle for Raspberry.

“...oh...uhm...th-thank you…” Raspberry carefully sets the dose aside along with the bottle. He really doesn’t want to get drugged up again. Not if it’s going to make master as mad as last time.

“That second one is for his illness. It should have him good as new. Make sure they both take those with food.”

Chara nods. “I’ll send for something.”

More dog food, probably. Raspberry’s shoulders slump. He doesn’t want more dog food. 

The doctor nods and leaves. Chara pulls out their phone and starts typing.

Sans notes Raspberry’s depressed expression and scoots over, rubbing the smaller skeleton’s head. Raspberry sniffs and leans against Sans’s chest, chin quivering. “I d-don’t want to e-eat a-anymore..i-it’s so a-awful S-Sans…” He whispers.

Sans feels a stab of guilt. He winces and coaxes Raspberry into laying his head down in his lap, running his hand down Raspberry’s bare arm. He notes the shivering. “...master can we have our clothes back, please?”

Chara tosses them over. “Food will be here soon.”

Raspberry scrambles back into the shorts and t-shirt much faster than Sans. He hesitates, seeing Sans’s big fluffy jacket still lying on the ground as Sans takes his time pulling on his shirt.

...maybe if he looks like Sans, then he’ll get Sans’s food. Raspberry doesn’t truly believe it will work, but he pulls on the coat anyway, hugging it around himself. Oh stars...so warm…

Sans glances over to see Raspberry wrapped up in his coat and can’t help a small grin. “heh. bit big on you, kid.” He notes the visible tail wagging, and frowns a bit. He checks his shorts. “....master did you get...holes cut into our shorts..”

“Maybe?” They put on their best innocent smile.

“you can’t say ‘maybe’ and then do the innocent face thing.”

“I can do whatever I want. Get dressed.” 

Rolling his eyes subtly, Sans pulls on the shorts, his tail poking through the back of the pants now. Whatever. It still beats being naked.

The door swings open and Tiffany hands a tray to Chara, curtsies, and leaves. Raspberry smells food ( _ real _ food) but doesn't get excited. It's probably just for Sans…

Chara drops the red and silver dishes in front of the closet. Raspberry doesn't move.

“...c’mon, razz, you gotta eat so you can take your medicine..”

Raspberry sniffs, wiping at his eyes with the oversized sleeves, “It'll j-just make me s-sick again...wh-what’s the point…”

“Eat.” Chara snaps from across the room.

“razz, come on, you...you can have some of mine, okay-?”

“Only if you both want another beating.”

Raspberry sobs, dragging himself to the dish.  _ ‘They hate me they hate me they hate me _ …’

“...” Sans can't watch this twice. He shifts his jaw and then crawls to Chara’s bed. “master, please, he needs  _ real  _ food…”

Chara raises an eyebrow. “And what are you going to offer me?”

“what do you  _ want _ , master?”

Chara thinks for a moment before a positively  _ nasty _ smile blooms on their face. There’s no  _ way _ he’ll go for it. “I want to take you to Snowdin and have you do tricks for the crowds~.”

Sans's sockets go black and he falls back, his breathing picking up.  _ ‘no. no. no no no no no no  _ **_no no NONONO_ ** -!’

“S-Sans!” Raspberry grabs his shoulders and shakes him gently, “Sans s-stop!”

Sans realizes he'd been saying those ‘no’s out loud and he's pushing himself so hard against the wall that his bones are shaking, “i...k-kid...kid i-i’m sorry, i-”

Raspberry pulls him into a tight hug, “It's o-okay, S-Sans, it's okay...you d-don’t have to. Please. Please calm down. I'll be fine. C-calm down, Sans. Please.”

Sans’s breathing hitches and he hesitates before returning the hug. How can he  _ care _ at this point? Why couldn't Chara have done that when he was Shattered? He wouldn't have given a fuck then.

“i-i’m such a f-fucking coward, i-i’m sorry-”

“Shh...shh…” Raspberry pets the back of Sans's head, letting the shaken skeleton cling to him. “It's okay. It's okay…”

“That’s my price~. Let me know when you’re ready to pay it~. Now go eat your dinners. And if you try and sneak him any he won’t even get dog food anymore.”

Sans lowers his head, shamed tears dripping down his face.

“I'm f-fine, Sans, really...I'm fine. I'm...I'm sorry I whined. I-it’s not even that moldy this time, o-okay?” Raspberry guides Sans back to his bowl, petting him some more before taking a deep breath and turning to his own ‘food’. He’s telling the truth, at least. This batch doesn’t seem to have any mold on it. 

Sans can’t stomach his own food. The choking sounds of Raspberry trying to force down the dry pellets as quickly and enthusiastically as possible make him feel sick. He sits back and puts his face in his hands. Why is he such a  _ coward _ ?

“...ma-”

“ _ No. _ ” Raspberry grabs Sans’s hand, forcing him to look at him, “Sans, no. I...I-I won't let you!”

“they’ll just… they’ll just make things worse for you until i bite the bullet, k-kid…” Sans mumbles.

“Sans, you...y-you can't! I can take this! I  _ will _ take it! I w-won’t let you d-do this to yourself! You don't deserve it!”

“you’ve got it backwards…”

Raspberry shakes his head and points firmly at the soup in Sans's dish. “Eat.” He orders as firmly as he can manage. 

Sans reluctantly leans foward to eat. Raspberry finishes his tasteless meal quickly and then takes the medicine for his sickness. He gives Sans a brave smile and curls up on his rug, only letting the depressed expression come back when he's sure Sans’s eyes have left him.

“Come up here, you two~.” Chara pats the bed.

Sans obeys. Raspberry stays where he is. 

“Runt. I said  **_come_ ** .”

Raspberry lifts his head, staring at them before slowly crawling forward and hopping up onto the mattress.

Chara pets them both, leaning back and humming under their breath. Raspberry squirms uncomfortably, shifting closer to Sans. The other skeleton just lies there with an exhausted expression. But the human just keeps stroking them, a pleased smile on their face. “Good boys.”

_ ‘Not good  _ **_enough_ ** _...never good enough _ …’ Raspberry gives a shaky sigh, stroking Sans's hand,  _ ‘Sans…’ _

‘ _ i can’t…’ _

_ ‘I know Sans...I couldn't either...it's okay...it's not so bad. They're not going to give me moldly food anymore...I'll be fine.’ _

‘ _ you’re gonna starve, kid… that stuff has less magic in it than temmie flakes, mold or not…’ _

Raspberry swallows, petting Sans’s hand a little faster,  _ ‘Th..they won't let me starve……..even if they do then they can just bring me back, right? It's okay…’ _

‘ _ you won’t die. not with that thing on your wrist. but you’ll feel the pain… i can’t watch it…’ _

_ ‘....I'm...I'm sorry Sans…’  _ Raspberry sobs quietly, shutting his eyes,  _ ‘Everywhere I go I'm just...just a  _ **_burden_ ** _...something people have to sacrifice for...I'm not even worth it...I wish I...I wish I'd Shattered!’ _

Chara yelps in surprise when Sans practically leaps on Runt. ‘ _ don’t say that, don’t say that! listen here, kid...you’re one of the kindest people i’ve ever met and you don’t deserve this shit! _ ’ 

“Y-you’d be h-happier without m-me!” Raspberry sobs, weakly trying to push Sans off, “Y-you would! P-Papy would! M-Master would!  _ E-everyone would be happier if I'd just broken like I was supposed to! _ ”

“i’d be alone, caring for your husk and wondering why you’d had to go like that… master wouldn’t give a shit. your bro doesn’t fucking deserve you!”

“Y-you’d be alone but y-you wouldn't be a-asked to do dog tricks to f-feed me! I s-saw your eyes when master said those words! You're scared! Y-you’ve had nightmares, haven't you?! It’s going to f-fracture you to do that, Sans!  _ I'm not worth it _ !”

“i-i can do it!” Sans snaps back with a confidence he doesn’t feel. “i-i’ve had to do worse…”

“I don't  _ want  _ you to but you're going to anyway aren't you?! Y-you’re going to try anyway!  _ W-well you're not going to be able to do it, Sans!” _

“Can you two have your lover’s spat somewhere that  _ isn’t _ my lap?”

Raspberry nearly snaps at his master too but catches his tongue just in time. He shoves his way out from under Sans and hides under the bed, curling up and sobbing. Why does he have to exist just to be a pain? Why can't he just be  _ helpful _ , to  _ someone _ , for once?!

Chara raises an eyebrow at Sans. He swallows. “...i’ll do it.”

“Good boy~!” Chara coos, hugging him. “Such a good puppy.”

Sans closes his eyes, allowing the tears to fall preemptively. He doesn't want to do this. But he hears the crying from under the bed and reminds himself he has no choice.

 

Chara is woken in the night by Runt nudging their arm with his head. 

Mindful that Sansy is asleep next to them, they look down at him. “What?”

Runt puts his face to the mattress, “M-my Master p-please...please th-there has to be something I-I can do...m-my Master d-don’t make Sans go to Snowdin...I'll d-do whatever my M-Master wants to earn my o-own food, please…” He licks their hand desperately, forcibly wagging his tail, “I want to p-prove I can be a good puppy...I want to b-be a good p-puppy for my m-master...please…” 

Chara pats him on the head, yawning. He purrs, not too loudly to wake Sans, but still loudly, rubbing his head against them, “A-anything at all, m-master...j-just say the word a-and I'll do it, m-master...please…”

“Well I suppose you could pretend to be Sansy and take his place if you really wanted.”

“Y-yes!” Runt takes a deep breath and nudges his skull under their chin, wagging his tail faster, “I w-want to do tricks for m-my Master!”

“Good!” Chara smirks. “We’ll have to do a bit of… cosmetics… so you can pass as him, but…” Chara grins.

Runt nods, forcing his smile wider to keep up the enthusiasm act, “Y-yes master! Wh-whatever you want master!”

“I'm so glad you're happy to help ruin Sansy’s old reputation. It'll be fun!”

Runt’s happy expression wavers, but just a moment - better he ruin it than force Sans to do it himself. “I'm h-happy to p-please my Master..!”

“Now go the fuck back to sleep.”

Runt nods, curling up at their feet and purring softly for a minute before allowing the sound to die out. Chara shuts their eyes. Good puppy…


	9. Tricks for Treats

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Raspberry is a good boy.  
> Sans is meh.

Raspberry shifts anxiously in his position (sitting doggy style on the carpet of Toriel’s private room) as Chara explains their desire of altering his appearance to their adopted mother. Toriel nods happily and compares the two skeletons briefly before casting her spells.

The pair seem to switch places to Chara’s point of view. They’d spoken to Toriel before bringing their dogs in, so she knows what they want. Now Runt looks like Sansy… and Sansy looks like Runt. Not that he knows that. 

Sans quizzically watches Raspberry feel his teeth (still smooth to the touch, in spite of their now jagged appearance), and glances at Chara as Toriel talks. 

“I'm afraid I can't change the little one's size to match - that's just not possible to do neatly. But is that good enough, child?”

Chara lifts up the stubby tail. “Can you make this look whole or is that too much, Mama?”

“It would be difficult to make it look real - the fake end would phase through the ground and such.”

“I think that would be less noticeable than it missing completely…”

“Very well child. I'll do my best.”

Raspberry glances behind himself a second later, looking at the ‘repaired’ stump. If he keeps it lifted it's fine, but if he relaxes it, Chara notes that it phases through the ground like a cheap video game.

“Keep it in the air.”

“Y-yes master.”

Toriel blinks, and tilts her head, “...strange..”

Sans stiffens.  _ ‘don’t talk around her.’  _ He orders Raspberry.

Raspberry gives him a questioning look but says nothing else. 

“Thank you, Mama.” Chara throws their arms around her. Toriel smiles widely and hugs them back. Sans looks away while Raspberry watches curiously.

“Come on, puppies!” Chara picks up their leashes. “We’ve got a boat to catch~!”

 

That made no sense. 

Sans continues staring at Raspberry the whole boat ride to Snowdin. Why did Chara  _ do  _ that? Why make Raspberry look like him? What's the point? 

He gets a lingering suspicion but dismisses it. As though Chara would let him out of this deal in any way…

The boat stops at Snowdin. Sans sees a wooden stage has been constructed. Fuck. He pales, his crawling getting slower. 

“Put your hood up, Sansy.” Chara instructs just before they arrive in town. “You will be silent and still unless ordered otherwise. Neither of you is to speak. You are dogs.  _ Act like it _ .”

Sans sits back and adjusts his jacket as ordered, giving an apologetic look at Raspberry.  _ ‘sorry you have to see this.’ _

Raspberry glances away and doesn't answer. 

Chara leads them both up onto the stage. “Sansy, in the middle.”

He takes a deep breath, arms shaking as he moves forward to obey. 

Chara yanks on his leash, catching him off guard and nearly choking him. “Heel, Runt! I said  _ Sansy _ to the middle.”

Raspberry crawls forward, giving Sans a brief apologetic look before taking center stage and sitting doggy style in the middle. 

Sans stares up at Chara in bewilderment. 

“Plead.” Chara instructs. “You wanna treat? Plead for your treat Sansy!”

Raspberry sits back on his knees, putting his paws up and panting heavily. He’s careful to keep his tail in the air. 

“C’mon boy, speak!”

Runt takes in a deep breath and then gives a loud bark. Sans’s eyes go wide. The  _ fuck _ . 

‘ _ He offered to take your place, Sansy~. _ ’ “Good boy, Sansy! C’mere and get your treat!” Their tone is the same coddling babytalk Boss used to give to Doomfanger before the cat froze to death. They produce a familiar yellow bottle and wave it about a bit. The crowd is laughing.

Runt crawls forward and suckles from the bottle, his eye twitching as he struggles not to grimace at the taste of the ‘treat’.

_ ‘kid…’ _

“Roll over, Sansy!” Chara demands, snatching the bottle away.

Runt drops to his stomach, rolling over twice and staying on his back, keeping his paws bent over his chest and panting, his glamoured-to-look-red tongue lolling out.

Chara carelessly squirts a bit of mustard onto their boot. “Whoopsies! Sansy, clean that up for me?”

He dives forward, eagerly lapping up the yellow liquid from their shoe. The taste of it is strong but it's still  _ food _ ...he probably would have done this act just as excitedly without the crowd. 

“While you're down there you can get the rest of my shoes, huh? Good boy~.” 

He's used to this at least. Raspberry keeps his tail wagging as he laps up the muddy snow from Chara’s boots. It tastes like Papy's would. It makes him homesick in the most fucked up way. 

Chara pets him when he looks up once he’s done. “Good job! Now chase your tail for these wonderful people.”

Runt glances back at his tail and hunches down. He wags it, and then darts after it, pouncing around in a clumsy circle. His palms scrape against the wood and he growls playfully, trying and failing to catch the twitching limb. 

“As you can see..” Chara calls to the excited crowd, “He’s very well-trained. Does anyone have any requests?”

Runt eventually collapses, panting heavily - he doesn't have much energy after days and days of no real food. He hopes no one has requests. He already feels very winded. 

“Does he fetch?!” Somebody shouts over the general din. 

“ _Does he?”_ Chara laughs, pulling the dust and glitter ball out of their bag. “You wanna ball, Sansy?” They ask in the baby voice, waving it ‘enticingly’ in front of him.

Runt braces his arms on the ground, sticking his rear in the air and wagging his tail furiously. 

Chara tosses it into the crowd. “Go get it boy!”

Runt tumbles off the stage and hurries into the crowd, slinking away from the grins. He spies the ball, but then it's grabbed up and tossed away. He tries to chase after it only for it to be snatched away again. And again.

He stops trying to run, bracing himself and panting heavily as he tries to catch his breath. Oh stars this is hopeless, th-

The din suddenly goes down and a pair of red boots step into Runt’s vision. He slowly looks up and sees Papyrus standing in front of him, holding the ball. Runt’s eyes go wide.

Papyrus stares at him for a few seconds before crouching and setting the ball down on the ground in front of him. Runt grabs it in his mouth and beats a hasty retreat, crawling back onto the stage and dropping the ball at Chara’s feet, panting heavily.

“Good boy!” Chara praises, kneeling down and giving him a thorough petting. “You wanna nother treat, boy? Huh?”

Wheezing, Runt nods, pushing himself back onto his knees and giving a breathless bark. 

Chara reaches into their bag and pulls out a dog biscuit. “On your nose!”

Runt wants to ask them what nose they are referring to, but instead crawls closer, tilting up his chin for them. 

Chara sets the treat just above his nasal cavity on the tiny ridge there. “Plead and hold it!”

Carefully Runt sits back on his knees again, putting his paws up and barking softly.

Chara waits a moment. “Eat it!”

Runt tilts his head forward and catches the treat in his teeth, chewing it down. It barely tastes better than the dog food but there's a bit more magic in it - it helps his waning energy a little. 

“Any more requests, folks?”

“Yeah, can we see it drag the other one around a bit!?”

Sans stiffens at Chara’s side. He doesn't want to get involved in this but fuck if he'll ruin everything Raspberry has been working so hard for. Chara nudges his rump with their boot and holds out his leash. “Take it and give it to Sansy, Runt!” 

Sans takes the leash between his teeth and crawls up to Raspberry. Rather than risk a near-kiss Sans drops the leash end on the stage. Raspberry grabs it in his mouth and starts pulling Sans to the other side of the stage. 

Chara smirks slightly. “You should tell Sansy thank you for taking you for a walk, Runt.”

Oh  _ stars. _ Sans lets out a breath and averts his eyes, giving Raspberry’s cheek a quick lick.

“Make sure to say it out loud too, Runt!” Chara beams.

...okay. Okay no one knows he's Sans. That...that makes it.. easier? A bit? Somehow?

Raspberry nuzzles Sans's skull.  _ ‘...Bet you can't bark louder than I did.’ _

‘ _ bet i can _ .’ Sans forces himself to think of this as just another game. He ignores the jeering crowd and pastes on a smile, mimicking the barking noises Raspberry had made earlier, slightly louder. He nuzzles the other ‘pet’s’ neck.

_ ‘Okay...I guess you win.’  _ Raspberry licks Sans's cheek.  _ ‘Thank you.’ _

“C’mere, boys!” Chara pats their knees. “We’re not done!”

Oh boy.

Sans and Raspberry both crawl back over, Raspberry keeping his tail up while Sans’s keeps trying to hide between his legs. His eyes start drifting to the crowd...there's so many…

_ ‘Pst. Sans.’ _

Sans turns his gaze back to Raspberry. The smaller skeleton smiles and then sticks out his tongue teasingly. Sans rolls his eyes but finds himself relaxing.

“Sit, Runt. Heel.” Chara commands, pointing beside them. They know too much will make him break character. And that would damage  _ their _ reputation.

Sans falls back into place beside Chara.  _ ‘good luck kid.’ _

Chara waves the ball in front of him again. “Wanna ball?”

Oh stars not more fetch...Raspberry gives an exhausted huff but assumes the same position as last time, wagging his tail and fixing his eyes on the toy. 

Rather than throw it haphazardly, Chara catches the eye of one of the rabbit shopkeepers and makes a general ‘catch it’ hand motion. “Find who has the ball, Sansy!” They give an easy toss, ensuring the toy lands in the rabbit’s hands. “And then plead for it!”

At least there's no reckless tossing about and chasing this time. Raspberry runs after the glittery toy and crawls up to the bunny, sitting back on his haunches and barking. She giggles and holds it above his head, too high for him to reach. “Come on doggie, get it!”

Getting on his feet is probably a death sentence, so Runt resorts to jumping up instead, snapping with his teeth. She laughs and lifts it higher. “Beg for it doggie!”

Runt falls back to his hands and knees, panting heavily and shaking. He staggers a bit, the corners of his vision going black. “H-hff…” He gives a breathless and weak bark.

“Aw, poor little doggie’s  _ tired _ . Sans always was a lazy fuck.” She holds out the ball.

Runt takes it in his teeth and crawls back, albeit noticeably more slowly. He falls back to the ground once when trying to get back to the stage but quickly scrambles back up. He lays the ball at Chara’s feet, wheezing.

Chara reaches into their bag once more and pulls out a dog dish and a covered plastic dish of some food scraps. They empty the latter into the former and set it on the ground. “Take a break, Sansy. Runt can play while you eat, can’t he?” 

Sans starts trembling, but he forces a nod. Runt immediately starts devouring the scraps of stale pie crusts, cold pasta sauce, and bread hunks. 

“Good boy.” Chara reaches into their pack and pulls out a braided, knotted rope. “Tugtug, Runt?” They wave the rope in front of his face. “Wanna tugtug-?” 

Sans snaps his teeth over it surprisingly fast, the sharp fangs sinking into the rope quickly and deeply. He braces his hands on the stage ground and gives a low growl. 

Chara grabs the looped end with both hands and digs in their heels, laughing. “Runt likes tugtug, huh boy?”

Sans just gives the rope a sharp jerk, snarling. He wants to fucking rip this kid in two. They know it, but they're playing up the ‘innocent puppy’ angle. 

Chara’s LOVE-enhanced strength, not nearly as powerful as after a genocide but still fairly high, allows them to yank the rope free, forcing Sans to fall forward onto his front. He gives a loud, sharp scream and barely muffles a swear as he claps his hands over his bleeding mouth. Fuck _fuck_ _his fucking tooth_!

“Aw, poor thing.” Chara coos, dropping to their knees as quickly as possible to hide the sharp gold tooth from the audience. They slip their knee over it and tilt Sans’s chin up to inspect the damage. Huh. The hole doesn't  _ look  _ out of place. They lift their knee and snatch up the dummy fang, pocketing it. Then they dig in their bag and pull out a large hunk of cotton. “You can bite this to help the bleeding, Runt.”

Sans allows them to stuff the cotton in the gap and lays down on his side, holding his head and squeezing his eyes shut. Raspberry crawls forward and leans over him, looking concerned. 

“Feeling a bit more lively, Sansy?” 

Raspberry nods slowly, moving to give Sans a wide berth before looking up at Chara and awaiting instruction.

“Alright folks we’ve got about ten more minutes. Any last requests?”

The general chattering has died down a bit. People that Chara sees had been opening their mouth to shout something go quiet and awkwardly look away. The child notes Papyrus standing off to the side, closer to the stage. He’s glaring at the crowd, as if daring them to demand any more from his ‘brother’.

Chara glares slightly at him. “None, none at all? What about you, sentry?”

“....” Papyrus looks away, grinding his teeth.

“Well if you have nothing to contribute, and you’re clearly not enjoying the show, then you should just  _ leave _ , hmm?”

“...YOUR HIGHNESS I WISH TO SPEAK TO YOU AFTER YOUR SHOW. IF YOU WOULD BE SO GRACIOUS AS TO ALLOW ME THE OPPORTUNITY.”

Well, if he kills them they’ll have to do it all over again, but that’s not exactly a  _ hardship _ . It may be difficult to get Sansy to cooperate a second time, though. “If you insist. Now  _ go _ , some of us are trying to have fun.”

“...IF YOU INSIST.” Papyrus gives one last glare at the crowd before  marching off.

“Now then. Does anyone have any requests or are you all too  _ frightened _ ?”

There’s some coughing but no one speaks up.

“Alrighty then, I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that all of Snowdin is as pathetic as Sansy was…”

The crowd starts to dissipate, and Runt falls to his side with an exhausted  _ hff _ .

Chara rolls their eyes. “Have a good day, folks. Don’t die~.”

Sans crawls forward a bit, tentatively petting Runt’s head,  _ ‘kid...i can’t thank you enough…’ _

Runt opens his eyes, smiling at Sans and giving his hand a little lick,  _ ‘You don’t have to...I earned my own food...it’s better this way. Fairer.’ _

The crowd disperses, and Papyrus walks up. Chara braces themself. “Hello, sentry~.”

“YOUR HIGHNESS.” He says stiffly, “MAY I HAVE A MOMENT WITH MY BROTHER.”

“Which one?” Chara grins.

“THE REAL ONE.” Papyrus correctly points to Sans.

“You don’t want to talk to Runty too?” Chara tilts their head.

Papyrus shifts his jaw, “AM I  _ ALLOWED  _ TO TALK WITH BOTH OF THEM?”

“Considering they are both  _ here _ , why not?”

“THEN YES, YOUR HIGHNESS, I WOULD LIKE TO SPEAK WITH BOTH OF THEM.”

“You have ten minutes. Take them inside. Boys, I know you know better than to talk in public.”

Papyrus balks a bit as he’s handed the leashes, but he takes them anyway, walking quickly towards his home. The small skeletons scramble after him, both eager to get away from Chara and to talk with Papyrus in private. Papyrus pulls them inside and shuts the door, “NOW-”

Sans immediately gets to his feet and hugs his brother, clenching his teeth, “sthay a fucking worth about me bein’ pathetic and i’ll gut you.” Sans grumbles through the cotton in his mouth.

Raspberry stands up and wrings his hands. “S...S-Sir I..I’m sorry-”

“YOU TOLD ME HE WAS SHATTERED.”

“i wath.” Sans pulls back, rolling his eyes and pulling the bloody cotton from his mouth, “Paps, i  _ was _ . he gave half his SOUL for me. he’s...he’s fucking Split, now. nearly Shattered himself.” Sans gives a weak grin, “...he told me you were crying. you some kinda baby bones, boss?”

Papyrus’s face twists up in confusion during the explanation, but turns to irritation once Sans finishes speaking. “I DID NOT CRY.”

“bet you did.” Sans gives a light punch to Papyrus’s arm, “are you goin’ soft without your big bro around to practice yelling at?”

“SANS…”

“U-um… w-we only h-have e-eight minutes…” Raspberry mutters.

Sans rolls his shoulders back, putting his hands in his pockets and trying to look like it doesn’t matter to him. “...well? somethin’ you wanted to say to me?”

Papyrus shifts his jaw. “YOU BOTH… ARE DOING BETTER?”

“well razz is doin’ worse...Split SOUL and all...and you saw that show he had to put on in my place…”

“YES...I SAW HIS TAIL GO THROUGH THE STAGE. AS THOUGH I WOULDN’T RECOGNIZE MY OWN BROTHER AND A F...A COPY…”

Raspberry gives a weak smile, “...I’m sorry s-sir…”

“ALWAYS SO… WHY DO YOU ALWAYS  _ DO  _ THAT? STOP APOLOGIZING. YOU DID NOTHING WRONG!” 

Raspberry flinches and his chin starts to tremble as Sans punches Papyrus’s arm again, less playfully and more scoldingly, “hey don’t yell at him! he got Split for me, you fuckass!”

Papyrus shakes his head with a bemused expression. “I always yell.”

“well don’t scold him, then!”

“BUT HE- oh, never mind… just… take care of yourselves…” 

“...that’s it? that’s all you’ve got to say to me?” Sans narrows his eyes, “you know we’re probably never gonna see each other again?”

“... you already know what I want to say.” Papyrus mutters.

“...then just fucking say it?!”

“fine! i’m sorry i was such a shit brother, i’m sorry I kicked the shit out of you and made you hate yourself! I'm sorry i’m too much of a fucking coward to take on Asgore and that demon child! I’M FUCKING SORRY AND I FUCKING LOVE YOU!”

“...fucking hell, Paps, all i wanted to hear was the last thing..” Sans murmurs, brow crinkling up as he moves forward again and awkwardly hugs his brother, “....but, uh...i forgive you…………….and i loveyoutoo.” He mutters quickly.

Runt wipes at his eyes, trying not to feel jealous. It’s a losing battle. He misses Papy...even if it was rare he would still get hugs from his brother. He misses those hugs. Being held by Sans is okay but it’s not the same...he stares at the floor, sniffing quietly.

There’s a knock on the door. Sans stiffens.

“...YES?” Papyrus calls.

Chara enters, arms crossed and grinning. Papyrus scowls and Sans gets back to his knees, sighing. Great. It was a nice vacation while it lasted.

“Did you have a nice visit~?”

“...yeah.”

“Good!” Chara snatches the leashes. “Say goodbye.”

“..b-bye, Paps..”

“Goodbye, Sir..”

Before Papyrus can respond, Chara tugs them out the door. Sans keeps his head down as they crawl, remaining silent. Raspberry tries to be responsive to Chara’s excited baby-talk chattering, even though he can’t really understand them over the sound of his own heavy breathing. He chooses to believe he did a good job, though. Maybe even passing...he hopes so. Chara gave him some stuff to eat during the performance, but he’s still starving. Just a small bowl of soup would appease him.

He rests his head against his master’s leg without really thinking about it on the boat ride home, eyes fluttering shut. He falls asleep and dreams about soup. A lot of soup.

 

Chara carries Runt in one arm, leading Sansy with the other. They’ve already texted Tiffany with their desire, so the maid was presumably on the way back from Snowdin herself. That’s Sansy taken care of with his nasty, greasy favorite food from that shitty bar… But they have no clue what Runt likes.

He mumbles in his sleep, nuzzling their head with his and sighing.

They almost feel bad. Almost. 

Chara sighs and decides to just have the kitchen bring up an extra portion of  _ their _ meal for him. He probably won't be picky. From what they’ve gathered, he happily eats anything - he’s a lot like their Sansy in that regard.

Sans leans up against the bedpost as they enter the room, and they lay Runt down on the bed.

“You two did well today.”

“...Raspberry did all the work.” Sans murmurs.

“Raspberry?”

“i call him Raspberry. better than Runt.”

“Oh. Whatever.” Chara shrugs and sits beside Runt, petting him. He purrs in his sleep and curls in closer to them, wrapping his arms around their waist and squeezing them gently like a pillow.

“Cute…”

“yeah. he is.”

“Come up?” It's less of a command and and more of a request. Chara pats the space on their other side.

Sans sighs and obliges, crawling up and laying on his back. He stares at the glow in the dark stars on the ceiling. They seem to be mocking him. He promptly rolls onto his face instead. Chara pets him. 

He sighs again but otherwise doesn’t react. Chara frowns - he’s just not as much fun as he used to be. 

Runt gives a whine in his sleep as their hand stops petting him. Chara obligingly continues petting him. They're going to have to treat both of them better for a while if they want Sansy to be happy with them, aren't they? Runt gives a happy purr and rubs his head on their stomach.

...at least Runt doesn’t expect anything more than just not being struck for at least an hour at a time.

It's probably safe to start conditioning them with the Bonder… 

There’s a knock on the door. “Your dinner, your Highness. And for your pets.”

“Come in, I’m kinda buried…”

Tiffany enters, nose slightly scrunched up. “That bar is disgusting, Majesty.”

“hey.” Sans frowns, “my friend runs that place.”

Chara snickers. “Did you get his food, at least?” 

Tiffany nods, offering Sans a styrofoam container. He sits up, taking it and giving a sigh of relief, “thanks.” He pauses, and then turns to Chara, “...and thanks. master.” 

Chara beams and scratches him under the chin. “You're very welcome. It  _ is  _ what you like from there, right?” 

Sans opens up the box. Burgers and fries. Literally the only thing that place serves besides alcohol. “mhm. extra mustard too, huh? thanks.”

Chara smiles even wider. “Great!” They nudge Runt. “Ru… Razzy, honey, dinner’s here.”

They look down and see his eyes are already wide open, staring at Sans. Or more accurately his food. Raspberry’s stomach growls and he winces, putting a hand over his belly and whimpering quietly. Soup is just as good right…?

Chara’s dinner is some ridiculously fancy steak with vegetables and potatoes. There’s two plates of it, however. Chara offers Raspberry the second, slightly smaller one before diving in.

Raspberry stares at in, seemingly in shock, “F…….f-for me…?”

“You did a very good job today, Razzy, so I decided to treat you two. If you don't want it I can send for something else?”

They’re barely able to finish their sentence before he pounces them (being careful not to upset their plate of food) and starts licking them all over their face, controlling his magic so he doesn’t actually leave saliva tracks on their cheeks, “ _ Thank you master thank you thank you so much thank you _ !”

Chara bursts into giggles, gently pushing him back towards his dinner. “Good boy.” They pet him briefly. “Eat up. Not too fast. Don't want you to get sick.”

He nods, giving their hand an appreciative lick before going to his own food. He notes Sans is eating with his hands, and hesitates to eat such a nice meal so messily. “...may I  use my manners, please, master?”

Chara nods and hands him a spare set of tableware. “Just this once.”

“Thank you-oh Sans.” Raspberry huffs, narrowing his eyes, “You’re eating like a pig.” He scolds.

“bite me.” Sans mumbles through his mustard covered mouth.

“I probably will!”

“Why must you two always have your lover’s spats in my lap?” Chara sighs, shoving a large forkful of mashed potatoes in their mouth.

Raspberry shifts himself so he’s no longer in their lap, pointing his fork at Sans, “Ahem.  _ Now-” _

“oh come on its finger food! how do you eat your spaghetti tacos, princess? with a fork and knife?”

“No but I don’t get it all over my face!”

“sure you don’t.”

Chara can’t hold back their snickers at first, but at the mention of spaghetti tacos they simply feel bemused. That’s a thing? It sounds… like something a five year old would come up with.

“When did I tell you about spaghetti tacos?”

“one of the dozens of times you were runnin’ your mouth at me when i was Shattered.” Sans almost recalls the time fondly. “you said a lot of things.”

“...a-and you remembered?”

“what else was there to focus on?”

Chara sucks down a few more vegetables. This is so entertaining …

“...I don’t know…” Raspberry stirs some broccoli around the plate with his fork before eating it quickly, “Anything is more interesting than the..the silly things I say.”

“would you stop it with the self hate already? you don’t wear it as good as i do. sheesh.”

“I think you're both pretty funny.” Chara laughs.

“feel free to stop by and see me at the MTT resort.” 

“Now why would I bring you there? There's so much riffraff.”

“really? MTT always seemed pretty classy to me.” Sans notes Raspberry’s confused expression. “...instead of Nabstabot we’ve got Mettaton.” He explains, “universe differences.”

“Oh...oh wow that’s...that’s weird…”

“And you've clearly never been there on a Saturday night after Last Call. Frisk barely made it outta there with their virtue intact. Didn't help that they were Flirting with anything that moved…” Chara is expecting a snort or a witty comment from Sans but all they get is silence.

Sans is staring at his burger, the grease dripping down his hands. That kid…

“Too soon? Sorry… I've had months, I keep forgetting you couldn't  _ feel _ anything…”

“...it’s fine.” Sans mutters, shaking his head and biting into the food with a bit of a vengeance. He gives a grunt of pain. His fucking tooth is still missing…

“What's wrong?”

“fuckin’ tooth.” He grumbles, swallowing and tapping a finger against the gap with a wince.

“Oh… if I give it back, can you fix it, or should I get the doctor after dinner?”

Sans shakes his head, “it’s fine. it was gonna come out at some point anyway. lucky it didn’t get knocked out with my earlier punishment, to be honest.”

“So you don't want it fixed?”

Sans shakes his head, “it’s fine. it’ll just come out again.”

Chara nods, setting their plate on the nightstand and petting him. “If you insist, little puppy.”

“mhm.” Sans sets his take out container aside on the dresser and settles down more on the mattress, closing his eyes.

Raspberry finishes up his meal and gives an appreciative sigh, “Wh-where should I put my plate, master?” 

Chara takes it and puts it on theirs, stacking Sans’s container on top. They poke Raspberry’s belly. “It's bigger.”

Raspberry draws in his legs, blushing, “W-well I..I a-ate more, m-master…”

The human nods in understanding, tilting their head curiously. They reach out and rub the glowing ‘flesh’ beneath Raspberry’s shirt. Raspberry shivers and grows stiff, “U-uhm…”

“You don’t like that?” Chara’s actually disappointed.

“....u-uhm…” Raspberry’s blush gets worse, and he hides his face in his hands, “....c...c-can you do it more…? P-please?”

Chara grins and continues to gently rub Raspberry’s belly. He sighs and wriggles down so he’s lying on his back, stretching out his toes and smiling stupidly.

“Adorable.”

“Mmmmphhh... _ krrrr...krrr… _ ” 

Chara giggles, continuing. Raspberry’s eyes go glassy as he nudges his head against their leg. His tongue lolls out and he starts panting.

“Who’s a good boy? Who’s a good boy? You are!”

Raspberry shrieks as they start scratching his belly lightly, his legs kicking out, “Ah ha! H-ha! M-Master!”

“Yes, you are~!”

Raspberry continues giggling and shrieking, burying his face into the mattress and pleading good-naturedly for them to stop.

“You want me to stop?” Chara giggles. “Okay~.” Their hand stills.

Raspberry catches his breath, wheezing and nuzzling their hand.

“My puppies were very good today. I'm very happy with you two.” 

Sans gives a thumbs up and Raspberry shifts so his head is on his master’s lap, purring.

“You two tired?”

Sans nods and Raspberry does too, yawning as well.

“You can sleep up here or in the closet.”

“Here!” Raspberry chirps, tail wagging, “It’s so soft!”

Sans shrugs, “works for me.”

Chara nods and tugs the blanket over the three of them, rolling onto their side and wrapping their arms around Sans. “G’nite, puppies…” They mumble, blowing out the lamp.

There’s shuffling, and then they hear a timid “Master…?”

“Hmm?”

“...c..c-can you h-hold me tonight…?”

Chara peeks over their shoulder at him. He’s giving the biggest, saddest pair of doe eyes they’ve ever seen. “If you want.” They roll the rest of the way over and wrap their arms around him instead.

Raspberry purrs, tucking his head under their chin and curling up against them.

Chara shuts their eyes, eventually being lulled to sleep by Raspberry’s steady purrs.


End file.
